Parents’ Association update
From the President Sophie Croft, President, MLC Parents’ Association
Connecting our community and continuing to engage in 2021 was always going to be a challenge in the context of the environment in which we currently live. Our calendar was planned with a breadth of interesting and diverse events, offering opportunity for our community to engage. So how did it unfold and how did we take the learnings of 2020 into the year?
Somehow, we have managed to hold events in person. Beef and Burgundy and Women Inspired were both sell-outs. We connected again with PA Live – an online initiative introduced in 2020. Skincare Starters, which combined a panel discussion on general skincare with Dr Sarah Hume (MLC parent) and a skincare tutorial with former student Ruby Vidor (2016), saw our biggest audience. Our AGM, Careers Expo and International Parents Update took place online too. We launched our inaugural Stars Day – a day for our students and their parents to give back by providing service in the community with charity partners. It was so pleasing to see this event resonate with our families, again a sell-out but now postponed due to Melbourne’s extended lockdown.
While our schedule of events has been interrupted, postponed and changed, our wonderful community of parents reps, year level liaisons and Special Interest Group committees have risen to the challenge to evolve. What hasn’t changed is the enthusiasm of our community to connect and engage. And as we navigate our way through these times, our focus continues to be on providing a breadth of activities and opportunities for our community to do just that, by volunteering and getting involved. The pandemic has changed how we do things, but it won’t change our need for connection. So, as we look to 2022, we will again be planning to evolve and create diverse opportunities for the MLC parent community to connect.
“The pandemic has changed how we do things, but it won’t change our need for connection.” Sophie Croft, President, MLC Parents’ Association
The Women Inspired event went ahead in 2021. Pictured clockwise from top left: Past parent and ovarian cancer ambassador, Leone Flynn receives a standing ovation; PA President, Sophie Croft introduces the evening; the Hawthorn Town Hall was the venue for this year’s event.
22 The Star November 2021
