Prior to Christmas, we welcomed new staff member Chris Wills to the St Ann’s College team. Chris (pictured right) takes on the role of Executive Assistant for Principal Denise von Wald.

Chris joins us with over over 20 years in senior Executive Assistant roles working for two iconic, SA family-owned businesses, as well as experience in HR. Away from work, Chris enjoys travelling and spending time with family and friends.

Whilst Chris is joining us, we also say a temporary farewell to Leia Reis who is taking time off to have her second child. We welcome Chris to the team and wish Leia all the best during this special time!

In other staff news, we had the opportunity to celebrate the birthday of our Dean – Wendy Flemming, back in January. In photos to the right, Wendy is pictured in front of her birthday cake. We also captured a photo of the St Ann’s College Staff members on the same day (prior to Leia’s departure).

On Monday 20 March, we hosted the inaugural Hill-Ling Scholars’ Formal Dinner, to celebrate and honour the generosity of the Hill-Ling Family and the achievements of the scholars. Established in 2011 and then 2012, the late Mrs Rosemary Hill-Ling OAM and late Mr Bob Hill-Ling AO Scholarships are awarded annually and in perpetuity. Both Scholarships provide substantial assistance towards the cost of residency at St Ann’s College with the Rosemary Hill-Ling OAM award supporting students from government schools and Bob Hill Ling AO supporting students studying engineering.

Eight of the 20 Hill-Ling Scholars from the past 11 years joined us on the evening, with each updating us on where they are today and the role the Hill-Ling Scholarship had on them and their journey.

Photo above right: In attendance were Wendy Flemming – Dean, Ashley Hams – Chair of Council, Denise von Wald – Principal, Jenny Hill-Ling, Duncan Ferguson – Scholar, Bridgette McKinnon – Scholar, Ben Gloster – Scholar, Joe Martin – Scholar, Tsigereda Tangey – Scholar, Piers Lewis – Scholar, Amy Vogelsang – Scholar, Mark Hill-Ling, Carol Hill-Ling, Maggi Miles and Gary Lines – Governors, Jason Turnbull – Chair of Foundation and his wife Alice.

A number of others who were not able to join us wrote to us about the impact of the scholarship. For example, Ash Mitchell who was at the College from 2016 to 2018 and held positions as the First Year Representative, Treasurer and President in 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively, is now a Data Scientist at BHP. He says, “I held the Bob Hill-Ling scholarship in 2016 which enabled me to come to

college and to afford it. If it wasn’t for the Bob-Hill Ling scholarship I received in 2016, I probably would not have been in a financial position to return to college in 2017 so I am incredibly grateful for the fact that scholarships like this exist to provide students in need – he comes from a large family – with the opportunity to level the playing field, focus on their studies and reap the rewards of the college environment.”

Isabella Withers was at St Ann’s between 2014 and 2016 and had the pleasure of being SAUCC representative in 2015 and Vice President in 2016. She’s now a Global Account Executive for a software company and manages global accounts such as Coca-Cola, Pfizer and BHP. Isabella gets to travel the world and work with incredible people. The Hill-Ling scholarship played a big role in her ability to continue her education and reside at St Ann’s. She was the first in her family to go to university and says, she and her mum worked really hard to finance her education. She also says she is very grateful!

Emma Giersch was at St Ann’s from 2011-2012 while studying for a Bachelor of Health Science, but she went on to study medicine in Victoria. She is currently working for Monash Health. The Rosemary Hill-Ling scholarship, she says, enabled her to stay at college for an extra year and to fully focus on her studies. It paid off with Rosemary Hill-Ling herself encouraging Emma to apply for medicine and work hard. Emma says, ‘her words have always stuck with me.’

Mark Hill-Ling spoke inspirationally on behalf of the family. In speaking about his parents, Bob and Rosemary he said, you never fully understand the impact your parents have on the lives of others, the community and the world – unfortunately – until they are gone. His story of his mother’s move from Jamestown to Adelaide to pursue her education at Adelaide Girls High and later at the University of Adelaide, driven by her great intellect, saw her graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree and working in weapons research until the birth of his sister put pay to that as women didn’t work once, they had children. Rosemary was very grateful to St Ann’s for the half scholarship she received for two years and the generosity she experienced from benefactors influenced her commitment to give back to future students later in life.

He also spoke about his parents and family’s commitment to having an impact in the world and deeply considering the legacy they wanted to leave. He encouraged St Ann’s students to think about what impact they want to have in the world and what they aspire to leave as their own legacy. The central theme of many of the collegians who spoke, was one of deep gratitude for the opportunity the scholarships had given them to focus on their studies during the year and give back to the College typically, in leadership roles.

It was a memorable evening and a wonderful opportunity to understand the full impact that people like the Hill-Lings have had on lives of the twenty Hill-Ling Scholars (who are still young career professionals) to date and our community.

We have had an ambitious program to rebuild the College infrastructure over the past few years and this Summer was no different, with a hive of activity throughout the break.

The main kitchen underwent significant changes with state-of-the-art kitchen facilities installed. The original kitchen was gutted with new flooring, tiling and air-conditioning. A fresh lick of paint and new kitchen appliances have brightened the space and ensured that all meals can be provided to our students quickly and efficiently. See before and after photos, right.

The Design Room was also renovated with new vinyl flooring, worktables, downlights, air-conditioning, fresh paint and a lovely mural to brighten up the space. The perfect environment to get the creative juices flowing!

Four students attended the National Association of Australian University Colleges Conference held in Brisbane last November and reported a very positive experience and assessment of the culture at St Ann’s compared to other colleges. Specifically, they made comment about hazing, drug and alcohol use which in their view appears to be more prevalent in other residential colleges interstate. Jess Aucote was one of the four attending students and has provided her own appraisal below.

On the 27th of November 2022, Angel Simmons, Hayden Schultz, Lockie Kelly and I packed our bags and headed to the airport to attend the weeklong NAAUC (National Association of Australian University Colleges) National Conference in Brisbane. The week consisted of the four of us meeting student leaders from various Residential Colleges across Australia, whilst learning valuable skills during daily Conferences and Academics. Inspirational speakers including the ‘Red Frogs Australia’ creator Andy Gourley, ‘Safe and Sexy’ founder Katherine Plume, and award-winning journalist and author Shannon Molloy, who spoke each morning to inspire our role as student leaders at our respective Colleges. These sessions were followed by group academics that delved more specifically into topics such as fostering excellence, our purpose in leadership, responsibilities as office bearers, strategic planning, and effective changeover. These group academics allowed all delegates to have open discussions about the experience at their own Colleges and learn different points that could help to improve our Colleges. The week was full of team bonding activities taking us all over the City of Brisbane and taught us many new skills that we are excited to bring back to the members at St Ann’s College.

The historic Tasmanian oak tables in the Dining Hall are iconic to the St Ann’s College experience and encapsulate the grounding and collective experience that the College offers.

You can book your place in the history of St Ann’s by Sponsoring one of the Dining Hall Tables, which allows you to purchase the namesake of the table, identified by a plaque with your name on it. To date, there are 11 of 22 tables sold. This leaves another 11 tables you can Sponsor. To purchase your table, email victoria.lewis@stannscollege.edu.au.

With the rooms vacated by students throughout the Summer, we were able to open the college to external booking guests. It was one family in particular who enjoyed visiting after many years away! Dr Doris Chuah – a Doctor from Malaysia attended St Ann’s from 1963 – 1964 and her daughter Cheryl, a dentist from Brisbane, attended from 1993 – 1996.

Both Cheryl and Doris were thrilled to be able to visit their old rooms during their visit to the College. Always wonderful to welcome back familiar faces.

March 8 was International Women’s Day, a time to recognise women’s achievements, raise awareness about discrimination and take action to drive gender parity. We also took the opportunity to celebrate the St Ann’s College students in STEM; Jasmin Ireland, Bella Zwar, Dana Hurrell and Cleoni Trussell. For each of these young women, studying and preparing to work in a traditional male dominated environment is an opportunity to create change and to back to their communities.

You can find out more about why Cleoni (pictured right) entered into the STEM field.

How did you first become interested in STEM? I have always been interested in anything science based. I find it all so interesting. My love for it was solidified in high school, where I was exposed to more of practical sciences like Ag Studies.

Who are the inspirational women in your field of STEM, who motivate you and why? The inspirational women in my life are both of my Ag teachers from high school, Emma Philips, and Chelsea Dahlenburg. They gave me the confidence to get where I am today, they pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me into the person I am today. They were both able to ensure we kept learning even when faced with Covid in 2020. They opened so many doors for me, and other women in the field of STEM.

Do you think it’s important to attract more students into STEM, particularly women and why? I believe that it is extremely important to attract more students into STEM, particularly women as it is currently a male dominated industry. By encouraging more women to partake in a career in STEM we are able to promote equality in the industry.

What advice would you give to girls in senior school, thinking about studying STEM at University? Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something just because you’re a woman and make sure you take every opportunity you’re presented with by the horns. You got this Qweens!!!

Thomas de la Perrelle, born and raised in Port Lincoln, attended St Ann’s College from 2018 to 2020, whilst completing a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering Studies. Late in 2022, he also completed a Bachelor of Science Double Degree, majoring in Theoretical and Experimental Physics at the University of Adelaide.

His fondest memory of his time at the College was playing guitar in the Battle of the Bands competition. Still to this day, he comments that it was the biggest crowd he has played in front of, and what a wonderful opportunity it was to share his passion for music with his friends. “The energy at the event was amazing; an experience I will always fondly remember”.

Like many St Ann’s Collegians, Thomas speaks highly of his time at the College. He says for country students in particular, St Ann’s ensures the transition from country life to city life, and also studying at University, is a smooth one.

“Everyone is in the same boat at St Ann’s and right from the first year, you get access to lots of support, from both the staff and other students”. He believes St Ann’s College set himself up for success at University, however it was also the perfect opportunity to meet new people, make new friends, build networks, develop into an adult, all whilst putting himself in good stead for the future.

Tom is currently starting a new role as an Engineer with Frazer-Nash Consultancy, where he is looking forward to applying his studies on solve real-world problems, meeting new colleagues and learning more about Systems Engineering.

Joshua Mason, from Renmark, attended St Ann’s College from 2018 through to 2021. He studied Mechanical Engineering at Adelaide University. Since finishing up at the College in 2021, he has secured a Graduate Mechanical Engineering role at Daronmont Technologies.

When asked what his fondest memories at the College were, he explains winning HTC twice is up there, however it was all the small things that made up his time, that he will remember most fondly.

“Being able to spend 4 years surrounded by such amazing people in an environment so unique really was a once in a lifetime experience and something that I’ll treasure forever”, he said.

“The support is great for when you first move out of home, it helps you to adjust to living alone away from family. But it was the amount of fun that I had while living at the College that stands out. I think everyone should get to experience it, and I couldn’t recommend it more highly”. Joshua remains involved with the College in the role as Treasurer for the Collegians, for the second year in a row.

Remember, we’re always eager to hear what St Ann’s Collegians are up to, so please get in touch with your news: marketing@stannscollege.edu.au