CONNECTIONS
13
Lessons of a lifetime
Sarah Donnelley (STC2008) vividly remembers the moment her future came into focus. It was during her final year at St Cath’s, when she and her fellow prefects organised a leadership workshop for Year 6.
her throughout her life. “It was challenging, both mentally and emotionally, but you have to be challenged in those ways to actually feel that sense of empowerment and strength. It taught me that I can do anything,” she said. Sarah also cherishes the time she spent at school under the Magnolia Tree, which has sat at the heart of our campus since the very beginning. Sarah remembered retreating to its calming shade before music performances at the Dame Joan Sutherland Centre to calm her nerves. It was also a quiet place for important conversations with friends who needed time to talk or work through something. “I often was having these conversations with young women who were younger or older than me,” she added. “I think another special part of St Catherine’s was the ability to have friendships with young women of all different ages, in terms of supporting each other.” For Sarah, these connections have carried her throughout life, with her St Cath’s friendships holding a special place in her heart. “There’s something different about it, it is more of a sister connection. I’ve seen some of these women from five years old, from nine years old. We all had different experiences here. We all had different pathways, whether that was different house groups, different subject choices, different teachers, different school social groups. But we all have that connection, and that’s something that’s really strong.”
This firsthand experience of teaching — while still a student herself — “set the trajectory for my life and what I wanted to do,” Sarah reflected. Recently, she uncovered the time capsule she created as a Year 7 student at St Cath’s. Inside was a Post-it note that read: “I want to be a teacher/singer,” which she found funny “because that is exactly where my path has taken me”. After graduating from school, Sarah studied education at The University of Sydney before taking a teaching post in Wilcannia, a small town two hours east of Broken Hill. There, she reimagined the classroom experience through the power of music. In 2020, she was awarded the Telstra ARIA Music Teacher of the Year and in 2022, she published a book, Big Things Grow , about her experience in Wilcannia. But even as her journey took her far from our hill overlooking the ocean in Waverley, Sarah continued to draw on the lessons she learnt here at St Cath’s. “One of the really important things in my education was being taught as a woman that you can do absolutely anything you want to do,” she said, “There were all sorts of opportunities to nurture whatever your interest or inkling was. Right the way through my schooling, it was instilled from an early age that the world is open to you to just go out there and grab it.” She also credits her junior school music teacher, Mrs Jenny Birrell, with showing her the enormous impact an educator can have on the lives of their students. To this day,
Sarah still uses many of the tools, songs and activities she first experienced in Mrs Birrell’s classroom. “She built confidence, she got me up on the stage. She is such an important part of who I am as a person,” Sarah added. “ Right the way through my schooling, it was instilled from an early age that the world is open to you to just go out there and grab it.
Sarah Donnelley (STC2008)
Among the experiences that shaped her were the outdoor camps in Years 9 and 10. From freezing canoe trips along the river to tears of frustration and mud-covered clothing, the camps were tough at the time. But for Sarah, these difficult experiences taught her something she has carried with
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