Saints Success Stories

As a School, our core vision is inspiring girls to develop into women of character and influence.

Outstanding achievement, academically or otherwise, has been a hallmark of our graduates.

Countless numbers of Saints Girls go on to realise their aspirations across a host of disciplines, shaping the world of today for the generations of tomorrow.

Julie Bishop graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Adelaide in 1978 and attended Harvard Business School in Boston in 1996, completing the Advanced Management Program. Before entering parliament, she was a commercial litigation lawyer. She became a partner in 1985 and was a managing partner from 1994 to 1998.

Julie was elected to the House of Representatives as the Member for Curtin in 1998 and was Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party from 2007 to 2018. She served as a Minister in a range of portfolios including Foreign Affairs from 2015 to 2018, and was Acting Prime Minister. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Adelaide in 2017. In 2020, Julie commenced her term as Chancellor of the Australian National University, the first woman to be appointed to this position.

Melanie Cooper became the first female and the first of the fifth generation to be employed at the family’s iconic Coopers Brewery on a permanent basis. After completing a degree in Economics, Melanie was employed by Price Waterhouse as a Chartered Accountant. She joined the brewery in 1985 as assistant accountant, and in 1989, was appointed Company Secretary and later Director of Finance.

Melanie has been Director of Coopers Brewery since 2009 and Chair of its Foundation since 2011, with Board positions on other industry-related and charitable foundations. In 2014, she was invited to join the Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership for a three-year term. She was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia Medal (AM) in 2017 for services to philanthropy and leadership.

Dr Laura Eadie is an award-winning biomedical researcher whose love of Science began at Saints Girls. She completed her PhD in Medicine (2013) with a Dean’s Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence.

She is the current Peter Nelson Leukaemia Research Fellow and a previous recipient of a prestigious Australian-American Fulbright award which allowed her to develop her ongoing research strategy at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, one of the premier research hospitals in the world.

Laura works in the field of high-risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) and leads a team within the ALL Genomics and Functional Biology Group at SAHMRI. She is internationally recognised as an emerging leader in her field, is a TEDx speaker and has been awarded more than $2.5M in funding as a chief investigator.

Margaret Gayen made her first National Athletics team whilst in Year 12 at Saints Girls, for the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2011. She also represented Australia at the 2012 World Junior Championships, 2013 Asian Grand Prix, 2014 World Relay Championships and Continental Cup. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, she was a finalist in the Long Jump and 4x100m Relay.

In 2015, Margaret completed an Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering, and after designing technology for eye disease treatment, she moved into the energy industry. Passionate about solving global problems, Margaret is exploring hydrogen as a future fuel, whilst advocating for improved gender equality in the industry. In 2022, Margaret was named Young Professional Engineer of the Year for SA by Engineers Australia, and Young Energy Professional of the Year by the Australian Institute of Energy (SA branch).

Sophie Linn became involved in sport at Saints Girls from the outset. As well as proudly representing the School, she has also competed for South Australia across Swimming, Athletics, Softball and Cross Country. Her first national team was at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2011 where she claimed Silver in the 1500m. Sophie was awarded a scholarship at the University of Michigan, completing undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Sport Business and Human Computer Interaction, and competing in Athletics and Cross Country.

Following her studies, Sophie joined US fitness technology company Wahoo Fitness as a user experience/interface (UX/UI) designer, whilst simultaneously transitioning to the sport of Triathlon. She represented Australia at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, placing 5th in the Women’s Individual event and winning Bronze in the Mixed Team Relay.

Erin McKellar is a talented composer and songwriter with honours including the Helpmann Academy Award for Voice and dual Downbeat Awards. She is completing her Doctorate of Music Arts in Music Theatre Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She premiered her original musical A Box of Memories in Sydney, opening in partnership with HammondCare and Adelaide Fringe after the show won BankSA’s Best Theatre Award.

Erin’s songwriting credits include the Eurovision Australia Decides song ‘Bite Me’ for G-Nat!on, TikTok star Rory Eliza’s single ‘Young’, Natasha Bianca’s ‘Girl Like Me’ which reached No. 8 on the WAEVZ R&B chart, the 2021 The Voice single ‘Mad About You’ for G-Nat!on, and Emmagen Rain’s single ‘For You’ which hit No. 1 on the Triple J Unearthed chart.

Former Deputy Head Prefect Thenu Herath was named by Young Australians in International Affairs as being among the Young Women to Watch in International Affairs for 2022.

Thenu is the CEO of Oaktree, a youth-run international development agency that works to empower young people in the Asia-Pacific region through initiatives such as targeted education programs, sustainable development projects and climate change mitigation strategies.

Alongside this vital role, she is completing her Juris Doctor graduate law degree and working with the World Economic Forum’s Global Shaper community.

2017 Dux of IB and overall Dux of the School Emily Murdock achieved a perfect IB score (45 out of 45 / 99.95 ATAR equivalent), one of only two students in South Australia to do so in that year. As a result of her hard work, she was accepted to study at Harvard University in the USA.

In 2020/21, Emily took a year away from studying her double degree of Physics, Environmental Science and Public Policy to engage in research at Oxford University in the UK.

She assisted in writing papers researching the impact of global stimulus packages on climate change policy and practices, and has returned to complete her studies at Harvard.