Tartan News

Since graduation at PLC, Sophie went on to study a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Sydney. Whilst at university she pursued the creative side of the fashion industry and worked in multiple facets of the industry, styling, retail, PR and design.

She moved to Los Angeles in 2011 and pursued a career as a fashion stylist and personal shopper. On her return to Sydney in 2013 she commenced planning the launch of her clothing company SIR with her business partner and best friend Nikki after identifying a gap in the market (and their wardrobes) for elevated feminine basics and feminine silhouettes.

After graduating PLC, Erica attended veterinary school at Murdoch University before continuing specialist training in Canada and the USA. Erica became a board-certified specialist in large animal internal medicine and completed a PhD focused on equine muscle disease at the University of Minnesota in 2003. She then worked for two years in a post-doctoral position at Oklahoma State University, studying exercise related phenomena in horses and sled dogs, and traveling to Alaska to work with sled dogs completing the 1000-mile Iditarod race.

Since 2005, Erica has been a faculty member at Oregon State University where she works as a veterinary specialist with large animal patients, teaches third and final year veterinary students, and performs research focused on muscle diseases of horses and other medical problems of large animals. She is a published author of many scientific manuscripts and veterinary book chapters, and the first female chair of the International Conference on Equine Exercise Physiology, which is a global group that meets every four years to review the most current research advances in equine exercise. Erica has been married for nine years to Dave, who is an engineer and patent agent for the University. She lives in Corvallis, Oregon, a town of 50,000 people, with her two Kelpies (Tasi and Jarrah) in a house bordered by the forest. Recreational pastimes include trail running, ironman triathlons, hiking the beautiful natural areas throughout Oregon and crossing the Canadian border to visit her twin sister, Fiona, who lives in Squamish, British Columbia with her husband and two children.

Elizabeth has two children and five grandchildren, and is happy to say, she has just celebrated 55 years of marriage.

Much of Elizabeth’s working days were spent in areas of the Education Department, including teaching in childcare, preschools, and pre-primary centres. Later she was involved in the integration of disability children into mainstream schools in WA.

Elizabeth has been living in Tasmania for 15 years on an eight-acre property in the Tamar Valley, overlooking the Tamar River. In a bid to assist with a more responsible and sustainable environment, as well as contributing towards reducing global warming, Elizabeth has grown pine trees for shelter belts for livestock and animals and wind breaks for rural properties.

Carly has lived in Sydney since 1997 with her husband, Ciaran. They have three sons, Finn, Riley, and Killian. Besides raising her young men since 2000, in 2015 Carly started her own virtual PA business and has now ventured into natural therapies where her passion lies in holistic healing and working with nature.

Carly says: “We are lucky enough to experience Sydney from our beautiful harbourside suburb on the lower north shore. Our sons have all attended/ or are currently attending The Scots College and I am delighted to say our youngest son plays the bagpipes.”

Scarlett Duncan commenced at PLC in 2006 as a Year 9 boarder, coming from Kojonup District High School. While at PLC, she displayed a great aptitude for athletics and was elected to a number of leadership positions; Scarlett was the Cross-Country Captain 2008 and 2009, Athletics Captain 2009, and Head Boarder 2009.

Scarlett continued her passion for sport after completing Year 12, coaching Running and Athletics and hiking in Asia and Nepal, including Everest Base Cap and Kala Patthar. She attended Notre Dame University and completed a Bachelor of Preventive Health Specialising in Exercise and Sport Science whilst working for a physiotherapy clinic.

After graduating, Scarlett went on to a research role at the centre for Collaboration for Evidence, Research, and Impact in Public Health (CERIPH) within the Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University. This role gave her an insight into the skills she had and the aspects of professional life she found rewarding like event management and working with people. She also continued to strive for personal growth and sought out experiences beyond her comfort zone like Sky Diving, Bungee Jumping, ultra-marathons, and solo hiking.

In 2019 she founded her own fitness business, DOSE Running (Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, Endorphins) and is the company’s director. This has allowed Scarlett to share the joys of running by applying the science and art of running efficiently and pain free with runners of a wide variety of experiences, abilities, and goals.

In DOSE, Scarlett has found her own definition of success or her ‘ikigai’, a Japanese concept meaning ‘a reason for being’. She continually finds that managing the demands of a business about which she is deeply passionate brings out the best in herself. In the future, Scarlett plans to continue to expand DOSE and to innovate towards something greater.

Jan has been a volunteer guide at the National Gallery of Australia for over 16 years and it has been a great joy and preoccupation for her until COVID-19 put a hold on everything. She loves and appreciates the vastness and complexity of the works of art and has guided such wonderful exhibitions as Cartier, Versailles, Turner, Tom Roberts and most recently Botticelli to Van Gogh.

While overseas travel was still available, Jan and her husband managed to travel to at least half a dozen countries over the last decade. Most memorable, being a visit to the WWI sites on the Western Front in France and Belgium where she was able to stand in no-man’s land at Pozieres, where her Western Australian, maternal grandfather won the Military Cross on 23 July 1916.

Lockdown in the ACT has not only kept Jan away from her 60 Year Reunion, but it has stopped her from visiting her son and his family in Sydney for several months. However, Jan stays connected by helping her Sydney teenage grandchildren with their science assignments via zoom sessions and assists with the online schooling for her seven-year-old Canberran granddaughter.

Beth gained a Bachelor of Arts at UWA followed by a Dip Ed at Monash University. She moved to Melbourne in 1970 with her husband Peter and they have three children. Beth taught for twenty years at Toorak College, Mt Eliza, teaching French, English, German and as Director of Music for 10 years.

“I have a love of the French language, thanks to Mrs Ladd, and remember with admiration the professionalism and excellent teaching of Mrs Watson (biology).

They were wonderful years. We were privileged to have had a supportive educational environment, and the company of such a fine cohort of splendid women”, says Beth, who disappointingly due to the Victorian lockdown, could not attend the recently held 60 Year Reunion, having been to every other reunion over the past 60 years.