Responsible for continuing the history and traditions of Catherine McAuley, Foundress of the Sisters of Mercy.
St Mary's College's Alumni's purpose is to reconnect with both current and old students, parents, caregivers, current and past staff, and the wider Catholic college community. We welcome anyone who has an interest in supporting and engaging with the College.
St Mary's College Alumni 'Star' Newsletter
June 2022
Tena koutou from the St Mary's College Alumni.
Term 2, 2022, has started well with the College enjoying more freedom with the change of the traffic light system. It was a joy to welcome back visitors to the College. Yesterday, we held a very positive and busy Open Day. If you missed it and wish to visit the College, please ring the office to make a time. Ph: 04 473-5554.
I am delighted to share with you that the Alumni recently received a fabulous donation from a College family wanting to help young students that can't afford uniforms, fees, or activity fees - thank you so much. Please refer to our Giving Back webpage and learn how you can give back.
It's wonderful to see the increase in Entertainment book purchases. The purchase of an Entertainment Membership contributes to our overall fundraising and supports local businesses. Please help us achieve our goal of raising funds for scholarships and the upgrade of the Science Laboratories by sharing this link with your friends and family. Thanks for your support!
Connect and keep updated with the latest news through the various Alumni college community online channels.
This month, let us embody one of the Mercy Core Values, being Te mana whakahaere – mutual enhancement. In our willingness to walk alongside thers, we allow ourselves to be changed and enriched by those we accompany.
Nga Mihi,
Sally Dunbar.
Community Director
St Mary's College
Recently, we welcomed Sr Anna Nicholls onto the St Mary's College Board of Proprietors.
Sr Anna, kindly wrote us the following article. Enjoy the read!
There is a story told in my family about the time my grandfather varnished the floor of Sr. M. Lawrence’s art studio at St Mary’s College. I do not remember my grandparents as being particularly wealthy; nevertheless, I remember this story with pride, knowing that my grandfather made a contribution using the means he had at the time.
Catherine McAuley, the foundress of the Sisters of Mercy, also did what she could, with the means she had at the time, to alleviate the poverty that permeated nineteenth-century Ireland. What I find most remarkable about this woman is that she did not have a focus on giving charity. Instead, Catherine’s focus was on providing opportunities for women and children to develop skills that would enable them to be self-sufficient and not rely on charity. Click the below link to read the full article.
Dame Therese Walsh is an independent director and Chair of Air New Zealand Ltd. She is also the Chair of ASB Bank Ltd, Chair of the Chapter Zero NZ steering group and a Director of Antarctica New Zealand.
Previously she was the Head of New Zealand for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, and the Chief Operating Officer for Rugby New Zealand 2011 Limited.
She has also been Chair of TVNZ Ltd, Pro Chancellor of Victoria University Wellington, a Director of NZX Ltd, Contact Energy Ltd, NZ Cricket and Save the Children NZ, Trustee of the Wellington Regional Stadium, CFO at the New Zealand Rugby Union and part of the team that worked on the winning bid to host Rugby World Cup 2011. Prior to this she was an auditor at KPMG.
Dame Therese is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a commerce graduate from Victoria University. In 2013, she was named the inaugural supreme winner of the Women of Influence Awards and was awarded a Sir Peter Blake Trust Leadership Award in 2014. She became a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in June 2015.
ON THE GROUND
BE MERCY PROGRAMME
One of the unique programmes St Mary's College has launched in 2022, is the Be Mercy Programme for students. Here is a video where Peter Sanders, Assistant Principal explains the benefits of this programme, supporting our students to achieve.
CONGRATULATIONS
A huge congratulations to our Senior A netball squad who won the Regional tournament at ASB last month, beating Marsden 12-8 in the final. They have won this tournament now for 6 years in a row and are really a force to be reckoned with!
PATHWAYS INVITE
We invite our Alumni College Community to take up an opportunity to be actively involved in supporting an exciting new Pathways programme happening at St Mary’s College.
Pathways is a new and widely diverse subject on offer to senior students at St Mary’s. A subject that allows every student to work to an individual learning plan. Pathways involves a broad range of students who are engaging in a huge mix of learning opportunities from university extension courses to vocational training, work experience and trades academy courses.
Critical to the success of the Pathways programme is having enough variety and opportunities for students to experience the workplace. This is where we would love to have your help! We are keen to increase connections between St Mary’s and local employers so that we can broaden the work experience placements we can offer to students. Could you support us? We would love members of the St Mary’s Alumni to get in touch and offer short work experience placements for our students.
If you could host a senior student for three to five days at your place of employment, we would love to hear from you. Please contact Anne Paton, HOD Pathways for more information and to discuss possibilities.
ARCHIVES UPDATE
St Mary's College Archives was set up in 1999 on the eve of the College's 150th Jubilee in 2000. Old Girl Olivia Quigan, our new Archivist and Old Girl Trisha Nally, the Archivist Assistant have been diligently working through the hard copy and digital information, over the past month or so. It's a database and office of many treasures.
We can confirm that we will be able to on-sell soft copies of various Yearbooks or the equivalent dating back to 1976 in the next few months.
It is with great pleasure that I have accepted the responsibility of leading the Friends of St Mary's into our post-Covid lockdown years and what an exiting challenge this will be 😊. It has been a tough couple of years.
Our usual ways of communicating have been disrupted, we have all been at home a whole lot more and may have become (too) acquainted with our streaming services from our own couch corner. But it is a whole wide world out there and we need to get back into it and engage with it.
I for one want my daughter to become a fully fledged individual comfortable in all the situations of society and show her that I am also engaged in the world wider than just outside my own front door. I hope you feel the same.
So why not join us? Friends of St Marys is just that – a place for people wanting to engage, drop in and help with an event, be there for Mad Hatters Day to laugh at our daughters funny get ups, and be generous; with our time, with our laughter and with our smiles.
It is early days still, as we all slowly move out of our own couches and back into saying hello and engaging again, I do hope I will see you at one of our upcoming events in Term 3 or at our next meeting.
Mona Kruse Hurnen – Chair FOSM.
Your purchase of an Entertainment Membership contributes to our fundraising. Help us achieve our goal by sharing this link with your friends and family. Thanks for your support!
Since those humble beginnings, St Mary's College has grown into one of the oldest existing schools in New Zealand with an enrolment of approximately 600 students.
St Mary's College's Alumni's purpose is to reconnect with both current and old students, parents, caregivers, current and past staff, and the wider Catholic college community. We welcome anyone who has an interest in supporting and engaging with the College.
We are very proud of our many former students who have gone on to be successful in both their private and business lives. The new STMC Alumni past students are making their mark on the world! In all areas of Arts, Community, Culture, Sport, Science, Business and the Environment they contribute to and enhance our lives.
We love to hear of your endeavours and one way is by keeping in touch with us. Join us through the St Mary's College website, our social media channels, or send us an email.
How can you be involved?
Get in touch, we would love it if you reconnected with us,
Spread the word, we want to make sure that all old girls, families, and faculty are aware of this new initiative,
Pay it Forward, and give back to the college community in kind, or through donation.
Thursday 29 September 2022
7.30 - 9.30 am
Banquet Hall, Parliament Buildings
Host: Paul Eagle, MP for Rongotai
Speaker: Dame Fran Wilde
Speaker: Sr Anna Nicholls
More information will be shared along with ticketing being launched on 1 July 2022.
ST MARY'S OLD GIRLS' ASSOCIATION (SMOGA)
The St Mary’s Old Girls’ Association (SMOGA) is focused on enjoying the friendship of those who have been past pupils of St Mary’s College Wellington and their friends. We normally have a variety of social events during the year but the last 18 months have been different because of the COVID restrictions. Past pupils and friends of the College of all ages are encouraged to attend. We do have a lot of fun and enjoy sharing our lives, past and present, with each other. While we are having fun we also try to raise a little money to help the current group of students at the College who are in need.
If you would like more information about these events or would like to join our association then please contact Judy Houlahan, via the SMOGA webpage.
We wish to acknowledge the passing of St Mary's College old girl Toni Molloy (nee Hickman). Born: 17 January 1931, Taimate, Blenheim. Died: 26 December 2021, peacefully at home in Havelock North.
The family kindly provided this notification and the following YouTube recording link of the Requiem Mass celebrating the life of Toni, followed by a collection of Toni’s photographs.
May Toni, Rest in Peace.
On behalf of the family, we wish to acknowledge the passing of St Mary's College old girl Patricia Joy Hyde (nee Hogg). Born: 25 September 1938, Blenheim, Marlborough. Died: 17 March 2022, in Wellington Hospital.
The family has provided a beautiful eulogy of her life and her memories of the Sisters of Mercy and St Mary's College.
May Patricia, Rest in Peace.
Let us embrace "kaiako" (feeder of knowledge), and embrace leadership that is reciprocal (ie, the teacher and child have opportunities to learn from each other). The spirit of St Mary’s college represents this, we are truly unique, we are all part of one thread, the sharing of knowledge, we are a community that has experiences and memories that span over 170 years.
Today it is so important to network, interact and stay in touch — the alumni network offers students, families, the wider college team a host of benefits. One thing that will always remain in our Sisterhood. It is solid, it is constant, it is a community of women, a family, we are all linked by a common interest. Let us remember that we are all one, embracing all.
Our next newsletter will be distributed on Friday 1 July 2022. Newsletter submissions close mid-June 2022.
Nga Mihi,
Sally Dunbar
Community Director
P: +64 4 473 5554,
E: alumni@stmw.school.nz
St Marys College Term Dates 2022
Term 1: Wednesday 2nd February -Thursday 14th April
Term 2: Monday 2nd May - Friday 8th July
Term 3: Monday 25th July - Friday - 30th September
Term 4: Monday 17th October - Friday 9th December
Disclaimer
While every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this correspondence is complete and accurate, St Mary's College does not represent or warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, or that this information is suitable for use in every situation. The College, and its directors and officers, do not accept any responsibility or liability arising directly or indirectly from or in connection with your use or reliance on this information, or from any omission in the information.
