{"id":45048,"date":"2026-05-08T12:48:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T02:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/?post_type=article&p=45048"},"modified":"2026-05-08T14:44:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T04:44:31","slug":"from-the-principal-263","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/article\/from-the-principal-263\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Principal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Last week\u2019s 140th<\/sup> anniversary celebrations culminated with the annual Alumnae Awards on Friday night and reunions for those Old Girls marking significant anniversaries since leaving the School on Saturday. Such events remind us that each and every one of our students, current and former is part of the long history of MLC School<\/p>\n

The 2026 Alumnae Award winners yet again demonstrate the powerful contribution that so many of our Old Girls go on to make in their communities. They also serve as important role models for our current students, and it was delightful to see hear the animated conversations between the current students who attended the dinner and the award winners.<\/p>\n

Congratulations to.<\/p>\n

Vanessa Baker (1992) \u2013 Alumnae Award for Sporting Achievement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Olympian Vanessa Baker represented Australia in the 10-metre platform diving event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. She also competed at two Commonwealth Games (one in 1990, when she was in Year 10 at MLC School) and many national and international championships.<\/p>\n

She began her diving career at the age of 6, and by the age of 8 she had won her first State Gold Medal for the 1 metre board event. At the age of 11 she won her first National Medal and continued to gain medals in subsequent National Championships.<\/p>\n

Over the course of her diving career, Vanessa represented Australia on all board levels (1 metre, 3 metre and Platform) and accumulated 68 Gold medals: 3 International, 23 National and 42 State \u2013 the highest medal tally of any Australian diver.<\/p>\n

Elisabeth Baraka (Ford, 1994) \u2013 Alumnae Award for Social Welfare and Impact<\/strong><\/p>\n

Elisabeth is a woman who has formed her own version of success \u2013 choosing job satisfaction over salary by working in areas she finds meaningful and interesting.<\/p>\n

She has spent more than 25 years as a public interest lawyer and non-profit manager, and has worked internationally on human rights, corporate accountability, rule of law, and sustainable development. Currently, she is the COO at the Australian Centre for Corporate Responsibility.<\/p>\n

Elisabeth\u2019s career has been focused on promoting justice, economic opportunity, and human dignity through the rule of law.<\/p>\n

Janu Dhayanathan (2000) \u2013 Alumnae Award for Social Welfare and Impact<\/strong><\/p>\n

Janu is a passionate advocate for inclusion, disability awareness and wellbeing, whose courage in sharing her lived experience with neurofibromatosis has transformed the lives of thousands of Australians.<\/p>\n

Her advocacy spans body positivity, mental health, gender equality, and cultural stigma \u2013 particularly for women in the South Asian community who have been taught to stay silent.<\/p>\n

She is also an Ambassador for the Children\u2019s Tumour Foundation \u2013 her inaugural campaign raised over $16,000 in a single month.<\/p>\n

Janu embodies the MLC School spirit of resilience and service \u2013 not merely overcoming adversity but transforming it into purpose.<\/p>\n

Gillian Foster (Thomson, 1994) \u2013 Alumnae Award for Sporting Achievement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gillian started soccer at age nine and was a sports star at MLC School from the beginning. Selected for the Australian Team, The Matildas, for the 2002 Australia Cup against South Korea, Gillian went on to play 39 times for Australia between 2002 and 2005.<\/p>\n

She was a member of the Australian team at the 2003 FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup and the winning Australian team at the 2003 OFC Women\u2019s Championship.<\/p>\n

In 2004, Gillian represented Australia in Soccer at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

Professor Dr Virginia Hood (1963) \u2013 Alumnae Award for Professional Achievement and Philanthropic Endeavours<\/strong><\/p>\n

Professor Dr Virginia Hood MBBS, MPH, MACP, FRACP, FRCPEd, is a highly regarded and accomplished physician, educator, and medical leader whose career has spanned clinical practice, academic medicine, healthcare advancement, and professional leadership at the highest levels.<\/p>\n

At the University of Vermont, where she served as Professor of Medicine, she built a distinguished academic and clinical career in the field of nephrology.<\/p>\n

Her commitment to professional service and leadership saw her serving as president of the American College of Physicians, the largest medical specialty organisation in the USA.<\/p>\n

In 2009, Virginia donated $925,000 to the Charles Perkins Centre, in honour of her partner Dr H. Lawrence (Larry) McCrorey.<\/p>\n

Celine (Seo Young) Kang (2018) \u2013 Young Alumnae Award for Professional Achievement and Cultural Contribution<\/strong><\/p>\n

Celine Kang is an educator, arts leader, and concert pianist whose work sits at the intersection of performance, education, and cultural leadership.<\/p>\n

Currently, she is the Acting Assistant Director of Music at MLC School, the Director of the award-winning GNT Education Group, the Chair of Public Relations and Strategic Planning for the Australia Chapter of Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, for which she received a (Korean) Presidential Citation, and is also the Artistic Director of Koralia Entertainment.<\/p>\n

As a concert pianist, Celine has performed at Carnegie Hall, Musikverein Vienna, Sydney Opera House, and in October this year, she will be performing at the Sydney Town Hall.<\/p>\n

Assoc Professor Dr Glynis Ross (1973) \u2013 Alumnae Award for Professional Achievement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Associate Professor Dr Glynis Ross MBBS (Hons), FRACP, is an Associate Professor at the Central Clinical School of the University of Sydney, in both the Discipline of Medicine and the Discipline of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Neonatology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health.<\/p>\n

Her major clinical and research interests are diabetes in pregnancy, type 1 diabetes, diabetes technology, and inpatient diabetes management.<\/p>\n

Her passion and energy for advocating for people with diabetes, and for improving related health services and support through Diabetes Australia, the Australian Diabetes Society, the Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society, and the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation, have greatly improved outcomes for countless individuals.<\/p>\n

Shirley (Xue Ni) Song (2007) \u2013 Young Alumnae Award for Cultural Contribution and International Achievement<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the cut-throat and traditionally male-dominated industry of film and television music composition, Shirley is a trailblazer whose achievements have helped pave the way for greater inclusion and representation.<\/p>\n

She has composed for Netflix, Apple TV+, DreamWorks, Amazon Prime, Pixar, HBO, Disney, CBS and for all four of the Guillermo del Toro-created animation series: Tales of Arcadia: Trollhunters, 3Below, Wizards, and Rise of the Titans. Her latest film, Slanted, premiered at SXSW, where it won the Narrative Feature Grand Jury Award.<\/p>\n

By demonstrating that perseverance and skill can overcome systemic obstacles, Shirley continues to influence young women to believe in their potential and strive for change within the industry.<\/p>\n

Lauren Stefanou (2003) \u2013 Alumnae Award for Professional Achievement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lauren is a purpose-driven leader with broad experience across the legal assistance, community, and public sectors.<\/p>\n

She is currently the Principal Solicitor at the Aboriginal Legal Service NSW\/ACT, a proud Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisation, and the primary legal assistance provider to Aboriginal people in NSW and the ACT.<\/p>\n

She is also a Teaching Fellow in the Faculty of Law and Justice at UNSW, where she lectures in criminal law and procedure, sentencing, and related electives.<\/p>\n

Lauren retrained as a lawyer after a career in media. This decision was driven by a desire to work more closely with people and to contribute in more direct ways to speaking truth to power.<\/p>\n

Professor Ramona Vijeyarasa (1999) \u2013 Alumnae Award for Professional Achievement and Social Welfare and Impact<\/strong><\/p>\n

A globally recognised scholar activist, Professor Dr Ramona Vijeyarasa PhD, LLM, LLB, BA is one of Australia\u2019s leading voices on women\u2019s rights and gender equality through law.<\/p>\n

She bridges the gap between research and action in ways few scholars have achieved by her ability to translate complex legal and human rights concepts into tools, frameworks, and policy interventions that can be used by governments and practitioners.<\/p>\n

In March this year, Ramona became the inaugural Chair in Gender and the Law at the UTS Faculty of Law.<\/p>\n

Ramona is driven by a powerful sense of justice that has shaped her entire professional life and her exceptional contributions to public life.<\/p>\n

Christina White (2009) \u2013 Young Alumnae Award for Professional Achievement and Social Welfare and Impact<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christina is a criminal lawyer and Fulbright Scholar who is currently a managing lawyer at the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) in Alice Springs.<\/p>\n

During her studies, Christina interned at the Capital Post-Conviction Project of Louisiana in New Orleans, where she worked on petitions for clients on death row. Working with passionate lawyers who protect the rights of people facing execution inspired Christina to pursue a career focused on challenging systemic injustices within the legal system.<\/p>\n

Her legal work focuses on the intersection of criminalisation, mental health, wealth inequality, and structural racism \u2013 she seeks to address the deeply rooted systemic issues that perpetuate cycles of incarceration and social inequality.<\/p>\n

Christina\u2019s career is a testament to her deep commitment to fairness.<\/p>\n

Shortly the full bios of all these winners will be available on the MLC School website, I encourage you to read about previous award winners as well.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Lisa Moloney<\/strong><\/em>
\nPrincipal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week\u2019s 140th anniversary celebrations culminated with the annual Alumnae Awards on Friday night and reunions for those Old Girls marking significant anniversaries since leaving the School on Saturday. Such events remind us that each and every one of our students, current and former is part of the long history of MLC School The 2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","article_category":[],"article_tag":[],"class_list":["post-45048","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/45048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_category?post=45048"},{"taxonomy":"article_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_tag?post=45048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}