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Founders’ Day celebrations at Elsternwick
Two inspiring women addressed Elsternwick students and staff at the annual Founders’ Day assemblies this year. In introducing their guest speaker, the Junior School’s Art leaders provided an insight into the proud history of Music at Elsternwick:
After merging with Wesley College in 1989, this campus was keen to create its own identity as one of the three city campuses. This was helped by the Principal of Wesley between 1992 and 1996, Glen McArthur. It was because of Mr McArthur’s deep understanding of the importance that music plays in our lives that Elsternwick really started to make its presence felt across the College. Mr McArthur looked to Elsternwick to become a Special Interest Music Centre, a special place talented students could attend to become great musicians through expert teaching, good facilities and high-quality music making. There was an opportunity for all students who attended Elsternwick to have access to the Special Interest Music Centre. This ensured no talent was missed.
It was therefore only fitting that the guest speaker should have a strong performing arts background, especially in music… Enter the highly musical Alma Zygier (OW2015), who spoke about the influence Wesley has had on her own passion in the arts, then sang with her usual verve and incredible talent, accompanied by her father, Willy Zygier, on the guitar.
Speaking at the Middle School assembly, Audrey Mims (OW2018) eloquently reflected on her time at the College. She spoke of the encouragement she received to get involved and to be her own person, while making links to the students’ Term 2 theme of Bravery. Currently studying a double degree in Law and Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the Australian National University in Canberra, Audrey is a passionate campaigner and change-maker for gender equity. Her engaging address ended with the message that ‘one of the most important parts of being brave is having the courage to try.’