Girls with dreams become women with vision

To inspire our girls, special guest speakers are invited to our annual Foundation Day and Jacaranda Day. Each event is an opportunity for the College to gather and reflect on key messages such as service to others and the motivation to follow your dreams.

On Wednesday 11 November 2020, it was a day of double reflection as we held our 36th annual Jacaranda Service in conjunction with Remembrance Day. The ceremony reinforced our commitment to serving others, and also paid tribute to the men and women who have served our country in armed conflict over the years. After almost a year of online events, it was very special to have our girls and staff from Year 1 through to Year 11 gathered together on Gloucester Lawn. Our guest speaker for the day was the inspirational CEO of OzHarvest, Ronni Kahn AO. Ronni founded OzHarvest 16 years ago to feed those who have nothing with good food that would otherwise end up as landfill.

“... their donation will provide 20,000 meals to those in need.”

Over the years, OzHarvest has turned food waste from supermarkets, farms and hospitality providers into 165 million meals for Australians who need food relief and support to put food on their table. Up until 2020, this equated to 5 million people each year. Since COVID-19, that number has increased by another million.

Ronni paraphrased a parable by the Israeli author, Amos Oz, to remind our girls of their individual and collective power to be influential and compassionate change-makers in the world:

In the face of a huge inferno, like the bushfires we have just had, we all have three principal options as to how we would behave. 1. We could run away as fast as we can and leave those who cannot run to burn. 2. We could write a very angry letter to the newspaper demanding that the person responsible for the fire is punished. 3. We could run and find a bucket.

If we cannot find a bucket, we could run and find a jug. If we cannot find a jug, we could run and find a teaspoon.

“Yes, I know, a teaspoon is tiny, and fire is huge, but there are millions of us and each of us has a teaspoon,” Ronni said. “I want to create the ‘Order of the Teaspoon’ to remind us of our duty and choice to help others so that we leave the world in a better place than we found it.”

Three of our Middle School girls, Lily Lockhart, Emily Rothery and Ellie Hennessy, Year 7, have been supporting OzHarvest since creating and launching a cookbook to raise funds for the charity. Amazingly, the girls were able to present Ronni with a donation of $10,000 raised by sales of their book, 3 Cooks Who Care. Ronni explained to the girls that their donation will provide 20,000 meals to those in need.

Our guest speaker at Foundation Day Assembly on Wednesday 10 February 2021 was Dr Catherine Yang, one of our accomplished ex-students. Catherine shared her motivational story, discussing the challenge and fear associated with commencing at Pymble in Year 11 as a migrant from Taiwan with very little English. She spoke about kindness and how her teachers and smiling peers offered her friendship, support and a sense of belonging while she was failing Year 11! Catherine overcame her fears, successfully completed Year 12 and went on to train as a dentist – quite an achievement for a 15-year-old with only two years of English under her belt. She has also since written a book called STEP on Fear to help others overcome their fears to pursue and achieve their dreams.