Like many this past week, I have been following the Olympics closely, particularly the Australians.

It is no surprise Australia’s female Olympic athletes have continued to achieve outstandingly at the elite level. Impressing us all with their strength, athleticism, endurance, and speed, but also their teamwork, courage, and resilience. I cannot begin to imagine the hard work and struggles these professional athletes have faced to reach the pinnacle of their sports. 

As someone interested in the ‘why?’ behind great success, I have been pondering why Australian female athletes are so good. Is it something to do with our women’s sporting culture here in Australia? Do we have first-class sporting associations and development programs which enable Australian women to flourish? Do our women have opportunities possibly not available elsewhere in the world?  

It is probably a combination of these factors but whatever the answer, I have also reflected on the opportunities available to our girls at St Catherine’s. 

As I write this piece, I am sitting in the dining room at Camp Jungai where our Year 7 girls are enjoying their Camp this week. Fortunately, we have been blessed by the weather gods and have enjoyed blue skies and brilliant sunshine while Melbourne has been cloaked in heavy fog. However, we all spent last night in small hiking tents after a walk in the bush yesterday and we awoke this morning to ice on our tents! The nighttime temperatures are around zero in this part of the world, and it felt very cold indeed. 

The main campsite of Camp Junjai is very comfortable with proper beds and heated bedrooms, along with excellent bathroom facilities. However, there is no doubt sleeping in a small tent, managing the cold, enduring the physical challenges of hiking, and preparing meals with only a camping stove, have presented our girls with an interesting set of challenges this week. 

In addition to the night away from the base campsite, our girls have participated in canoeing, raft-building, high ropes course, and engaging in a First Nations cultural program. Each of these different activities has taken our girls out of their comfort zones. For some girls, one activity may feel quite easy and is lots of fun, but for others, it can be extremely difficult and confronting. One of the most important learnings our students gain from these experiences beyond our Heyington Gates are the opportunities to work with others, learning to collaborate, and solve problems. There are also requirements to persevere, show resilience, and deal with experiencing a level of discomfort at times. 

Amongst the challenges for the girls, there are moments of sheer joy. My absolute highlight this week has been watching the raft-making session where the finished product was exactly seaworthy. In the midst of making and trialling the rafts, the girls became wet and muddy. The sun was shining and while not exactly in summer conditions, a few of the girls started to enjoy the mud. Pretty soon they were painting their faces and sliding headlong down a little bit of a wet slope and ended up being covered in mud from head to toe.  

It was such fun seeing the girls delight in this simple play outdoors. It reminded me of the importance of our students having strong connections to the natural world. After slipping and sliding through the mud, hot showers awaited. 

We ask a great deal from our students and had an expectation for them to rise to the challenges faced at Camp this week. The same is true for our Academic Program, our diverse Co-curricular offerings, and the many other opportunities St Catherine’s provides. We want our girls to aspire to be the best they can be in whatever field they choose to follow. We want them to challenge themselves, learn to persevere, work as a team and be courageous. 

St Catherine’s has a long history of students who have excelled in science, education, the law, business, and pretty well every field of endeavour you can imagine, including representation at the Olympics. 

For our Year 7 girls, it is the experiences they are navigating this week at Camp which can make them believe they have more in themselves than they realise. Here at Camp Jungai among our young Year 7 girls there might just be the next Jessica Fox, Ariarne Titmus or Mollie O’Callaghan. 

Let’s go Aussies! Let’s go St Cath’s!