As our Class of 2022 celebrate their final weeks as Year 12 students, we look back to the commencement of the year, at the Year 12 Residential Leadership Conference, when the Cohort had the chance to hear from St Catherine’s Old Girl and School Co-Captain, Miss Mackenzie Leyden (‘17) on her ‘failures’ and the pursuit of success post-school. 

Extract of 2022 Year 12 Leadership Conference Address:
Miss Mackenzie Leyden (‘17), 2017 School Co-Captain 

“…The second part of [my] Address is a bit more personal, but I thought that I would have really benefited from hearing some of what I’ll be sharing with you when I was in Year 12.  

So, I want to take you on a bit of a trip down memory lane by sharing the quote on quote ‘failures’ I’ve had since finishing high school, how these have shaped me, and how I have been able to bounce back from them.  

When I was in Year 10, I had my heart set on moving to Canberra after school to study at the Australian National University. I wanted to do a Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics and honestly hadn’t really considered courses elsewhere. 

Everything was going to plan – I applied for bonus points through the University and then received an early conditional offer. I should acknowledge that I was very fortunate in that I wasn’t too stressed about getting the ATAR needed for this course as I also had the assistance of bonus points. I know that this was a privilege in and of itself, to have some of that pressure alleviated from final exams.  

So, I was all set to move to Canberra but was just waiting to hear back about my accommodation arrangements. I had applied to one of the residential colleges, which I had toured on the Open Day and subsequently fell in love with. This was all part of my idealised post-school life; living on campus, meeting new people, studying politics in the nation’s capital. But it turns out that I didn’t receive an offer for the residential college I applied to and my whole plan was thrown out of whack. Of course, I took this rejection to heart. I ended up deciding to stay in Melbourne and go to uni here instead. So, I enrolled in a Bachelor of Commerce at The University of Melbourne, which is where we come to my second ‘failure.’  

My intention when I started university was to study Commerce and then go on to undertake a Master of Journalism. I thought this plan was foolproof – I’d be super employable with a Commerce Degree under my belt and then I’d go on to pursue an area that I was genuinely interested in, that is, journalism. I would finish my degree in the allotted three years, then maybe get some work experience before doing a Masters.  

My first semester of university was challenging. I know I am not alone in that experience. I knew deep down that I wasn’t enjoying what I was studying, and this was reflected in my results. After not meeting hurdle requirements for some subjects, I actually ended up failing some of them in that first semester. This was a huge shock for me as I was always naturally academic at school and I thrived in this sort of environment. I had taken one elective subject in that first semester which was Introduction to Media Theory. I loved it and did well in it, and that’s when I knew I needed to change my path.  

So, at the end of my first year of university I transferred degrees into Arts. I knew this would add extra time onto my degree, meaning I would no longer graduate after three years as I’d initially hoped. It was when I completed that Degree in the middle of last year that I, yet again, faced another ‘failure.’ 

When I graduated from my Arts Degree, I started working full time. I was two months into the job when I knew for sure it wasn’t for me. In true quarter-life-crisis style, I panicked, not knowing what step to take next, or even what I could see myself doing long term. I genuinely felt like a failure.  

Luckily, another opportunity arose, for a role that I had applied for eight months earlier but didn’t get at the time. They had an opening and wanted to know if I was still interested. I changed jobs and decided that I wanted to go back to university to complete my Honours year so that I could apply to study a post graduate degree overseas.  

Sometimes I feel quite shameful that I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up. It can feel like my friends around me are establishing their careers, meeting their goals, and working towards that dream job. I have friends who are studying to be doctors and teachers and lawyers, and ones who are already working as accountants and consultants. Truthfully, I still don’t really know what I’m doing.  

When I was at School, I had no idea that my current job even existed. Having not studied a vocational degree at university, finding a career path was daunting. The world is changing rapidly and there actually is no perfect path to success post-school.  

As I speak to those friends of mine who are seemingly on track to kick all their goals, I realise that some of them are questioning whether they do really want to be a doctor three years into their Medicine Degree, and some don’t love being an accountant even though they work at large, well-known firms. Sure, on paper they’re successful, but there is so much more to it than that.  

Of course, everyone’s path will be different. I think my initial mindset of a very linear tertiary education and career progression inhibited me in a way. I wish I had been more open-minded, less stressed about finishing my degree in three years and changing jobs and not knowing what I was doing.  

So, as you go into this year as leaders for the rest of School, whether that’s as a rower, or a violinist, a House Captain, or a debater, remember that you don’t need to have everything figured out. Many leaders who have come before you aren’t perfect and many who will come after you won’t be either. Those rose-tinted glasses that we look up to leaders who come before us through can be deceptive.  

Be kind to yourself, and to each other. Whether it’s during the course of this year, or in the years to come, there will be times when you feel like you’re failing. You’re not. One day you’ll be able to look back at those instances as mere detours, leading you to where you are now. 

Good luck for this year, I will be eagerly rooting for you all from the sidelines.”