2019 was a big year for Nancy. During a student exchange to the University of Oxford, she studied philosophy, politics and economics. “My teachers recommended I go there to get a different perspective. I loved it. I played on their First XI cricket team and was a team lead at the Oxford student consultancy.”
LIFELONG FRIENDS
ALU In early 2019, she was supposed to attend a refugee forum in Christchurch but when the shootings occurred, she instead helped out with the response, supporting the Christchurch Victims’ Organising Committee and visiting the victims in hospital.
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volunteered with New Zealand Red Cross and Amnesty International, and was a Pacific regional representative for Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth.
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ANOTHER WIN IN THE POOL The Dio Old Girls’ relay team successfully defended their title (albeit with a slightly stacked team!) in the relay race against the prefects at the Senior Swimming Sports. Pictured after their victory are (standing left to right): Immy Rogers, Anne-Marie Avis, Isobel Avis and Jessica Shorter-Robinson; (seated left to right): Jenny Spillane, Eleanor Spillane and Zita Sumich.
In November 2019, her humanitarian work was acknowledged with a North Harbour Club AIMES Service to the Community Award and a $15,000 cash grant. Nancy was also recently named as a Stanford University Innovation Fellow. Over the last year she has undertaken training through the Stanford.School to learn about design thinking so she can apply those learnings to leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship projects at Swarthmore. Nancy will graduate from Swarthmore in May 2020 and has already accepted a position as an associate consultant at Bain & Company based in Sydney. “It’s a global management consulting company and I’ll be working with different industries to solve problems. It will help me understand different sectors and regions so that I can eventually go back into the humanitarian sector with more to offer than just my passion.” She also has plans to undertake postgraduate studies, either a master’s in public policy or an MBA.
PUT THIS ON YOUR READING LIST Jane Riley (Wilson, 1987) celebrated the launch of her first book, The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock, in Sydney in February. Published by Lake Union, it’s the uplifting story of introverted and lonely funeral director Oliver Clock whose ordered world is thrown into chaos when his secret crush passes away. But a surprising discovery sees Oliver resolve to open himself up to love. The large crowd attending the book’s launch party included some
of Jane’s Dio friends (Deirdre Coleman, Sarah Waldin, Anne-Marie Avis, Rosanne Sparling and Nicky Collins, pictured above, with Jane on the far right) who travelled to Australia for the event. The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock is available in paperback, e-book and audiobook. Jane’s second novel, Geraldine Verne’s Red Suitcase, will be published in January 2021. She’s currently working on ideas for her third novel. DIO TODAY
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