Welcome to the last OGA newsletter for 2022. As the year draws to a close, I would like to thank the 2022 committee for their work and support throughout the year.

On 25 October, we held our Annual General Meeting and voted in the committee for 2023. Welcome to new member and members. I am looking forward to working with you all in my capacity as president.

2023 OGA Committee

Two of the best things about being the President of the Old Girls’ Association are attending the Annual Speech Night to present the Old Girls’ Prize and speaking to the departing seniors at the Valedictory Dinner. They are presented with their OGA membership keyring at this event, which has their milestone reunion years engraved in.

This year, the OGA Prize was awarded to Antoinette Earnshaw (’22). Antoinette is a deserving recipient of the Old Girls’ Prize; we wish her all the best and look forward to her working with the OGA Committee next year to help MC our events.

The Valedictory Dinner was a great night of celebration for the Seniors of 2022. I thought I would share with you the speech I delivered at the Valedictory Dinner as we welcome the newest members of the Old Girls’ Association.

“The Old Girls’ Association has a long history of connecting all students who have attended or have graduated from St Margaret’s – not only connecting them with friends they have lost touch with but, most importantly, fostering relationships across the graduation years to support each other. Often the Old Girls’ Association is described as the alumni group. The word alumni comes from the Latin language and means ‘one who is being (or has been) nourished’. Your school certainly has provided nourishment for you to grow, but this does not mean you are finished growing. Finishing school does not signal the end of your growth or your relationship with the school.

SC Lourie writes “This is just a chapter; it is not your whole story”.

You are about to finish the ‘at’ school chapter of your St Margaret’s journey; however, you have more to write. To write means to create. It means to put something out into the world, something that didn’t exist before and contribute to something bigger than yourselves. To do this, support is important. The people you have met, the relationships you have built and knowledge you have learned are all incredibly useful tools for expanding your horizons. However, you are now added to the broader St Margaret’s community. You are an Old Girl who has and will continue to be supported by those in your year group and the wider Old Girl collective. You also will continue to add to the history of our school.

An essential part of being an Old Girl is finding ways to give back to the school. Many believe that it's giving donations to the school or responding to emails, but there is much more behind that. Those small acts of showing support for the community by attending events, reading, and contributing to the newsletter or joining the committee of the OGA can be the beginning of a success story for another new student to St Margaret’s.

Tonight, you will receive a small gift from the OGA. A keyring with the years of your reunions on the back. This keyring is a symbol of your membership to the Old Girls’ Association, and I would like to acknowledge the school who each year organises to pay the membership to the association for all graduating seniors.

So, treasure it…use it as a keyring or maybe you might put it in a box. Whatever you do, you are a member of our association. I encourage you to connect and continue to be a thread in the fabric of this great school and thank you for helping to write and continue to add to the story of St Margaret’s.

Finally, as you say your final farewells to teachers and the school as a student, remember the OGA says hello and welcomes you as the newest members of the OGA. Enjoy the next step in your journey and remember that you, the Seniors of 2022, are now woven into the OGA sisterhood.

Per Volar Sunata Class of 2022.

Wishing all a happy and holy Christmas, and I look forward to meeting with many of you in 2023 when you come to OGA events and your reunions.

Per Volar Sunata

Nicole Devlin (’90)
President of the OGA