3 minute read
Farewell Class of 2022
Inspiring Old Collegians Awards
PLC is proud to recognise its outstanding Old Collegians each year at Speech Night by awarding two awards, the Dr June Jones Award and the Dr Patricia Kailis Award.
Dr June Jones Award recognises Old Collegians whose professional or volunteer accomplishments demonstrate a significant positive impact. This year, the award was presented to Professor Lennie Barblett AM (1977) in a hybrid pre-recorded presentation as she was unable to attend.
Lennie’s research focusses on curriculum development, pedagogy, and pedagogical leadership for effective early childhood. Embedded in this is her interest in the role digital technologies play in children’s learning, development and wellbeing, educator’s teaching and learning, and the connection and engagement of families. In 2021, Lennie was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her service to tertiary education and early childhood teaching. In the same year, she was also named winner of Engagement Australia’s Outstanding Engagement for Research Impact. She is also a chief investigator on the Australian Learning Frameworks Update project 2020-2022 and Kindytxt, a digital literacy texting programme for families of Kindergarten children. The Dr Patricia Kailis Award celebrates achievement in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship for alumni aged 40 years and younger. It recognises women who are pioneers in their field or fields. This year, the award was presented to Professor Kathryn Holt (1999) and it was graciously accepted by her aunt and past member of PLC staff from 1987- 2010, including senior leadership roles, Jenny Rankin. Kathryn is a computational biologist specialising in infectious disease genomics, and a Professor at Monash University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Kathryn has a BA/BSc from UWA majoring in Biochemistry, Applied Statistics and Philosophy, with Honours in Genetics, a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute on the genomics of typhoid fever, and a Masters in Epidemiology from the University of Melbourne. Kathryn runs a computational genomics research group utilising genome sequencing to study the evolution and transmission of bacterial pathogen and hospital associated pathogens. Her lab is particularly interested in the global health crisis of multidrug resistant pathogens, and human and environmental microbiomes and their role in chronic disease, infectious disease, and horizontal gene transfer. They develop bioinformatics software when needed, including laboratory and computational methods for nanopore sequencing.
Among the numerous Academic, WACE, VET IB Diploma, and Citizenship Awards presented at the 2022 Speech Night, there was one award that is only given in exceptional circumstances at the Principal’s discretion: the Principal’s Inspiration Award.
This award was last awarded in 2020 and it recognises compassion, integrity, respect for self, inclusivity and respect of others, acceptance of responsibility, engagement in the life of the School and community, and a demonstration of initiative in response to challenges. This year it was awarded to Anoushka Paganin. “Anoushka exemplifies what it means to be a PLC student”, Principal, Ms Cate Begbie told Black Watch writers.
She has regularly won Speech Night awards for Academic Endeavour and Academic Excellence since Year 6, but the Principal’s Inspiration Award recognises the role she has played in making PLC the College it is.She has been involved in Music since Year 1, and has won Pockets for Dance, The Arts, Academic Honours, Music, Service Leadership and was the College’s Civics and Social Justice Captain for 2022. “The awards Anoushka has won only tell part of her story at PLC”, continued Ms Begbie. “She has won the Principal’s Inspiration Award this year to celebrate all the things that can often be overlooked. Anoushka is always the first to answer a call for volunteers, has always been willing to try new things, and push herself beyond her comfort zone. She always gives 100% to any task, all while encouraging others to join in. She is incredibly resilient, polite, kind, and thoughtful and completes all activities with a smile on her face. Anoushka has been a joy to know during her time at PLC.”
