As St Catherine's approaches its 130th anniversary, another significant milestone draws near: the 30-year reunion of the Class of 1996.

When I joined St Catherine’s in Semester 2, 1994, I could never have imagined the extraordinary talents and passions of the girls in my year level, both then and now.

To mark the School’s centenary in 1996, two students from our cohort, Emmeline Ng and Bianca Valmorbida, worked alongside Director Of Music Helen Lovass to create the Ode to St Catherine’s.

The Ode opens and closes with the lines:

We celebrate our golden past and our future just beginning
[…]
Our future’s bright, we’ll reach new heights with St Catherine’s as our guide.

These words continue to ring true for the Class of 1996.

Our classmates have excelled in many arenas – from sport (Olympians Lauren Hewitt, Olivia Skellern (Bunn), and Kristy Oatley-Nist), to the arts (photographer Chloe Paul) and music (violinist Rebecca Chan and singer Marcelle Knapp), as well as in countless other fields where they continue to make a difference every day. Whether in the public eye or behind the scenes, the Class of 1996 continues to shape the world with creativity, compassion, and courage.

Two women I would like to spotlight are Cate Melville and Victoria Mar (Pearce). Affectionately known as Melv and Tors, their leadership was evident early on. In Year 12 Cate served as Boarding House Captain and Victoria as a Prefect. Both have gone on to make significant contributions in the medical field.

Cate Melville is a dedicated podiatrist at Albury Wodonga Aboriginal Health Service (AWAHS) and a Clinical Educator at Charles Sturt University (CSU). She was awarded CSU’s Change One Thing award for her pioneering work in student learning around First Nations healthcare models and culturally safe practice.

Through Cate’s leadership, students in CSU’s Bachelor of Podiatric Medicine program gain invaluable insight into the barriers Aboriginal clients may face when accessing healthcare. This helps shape a future generation of respectful, confident, and culturally aware practitioners.

Cate’s work is paving the way for a more inclusive and equitable healthcare system.

Professor Victoria Mar is a leading figure in melanoma research and treatment in Australia. She is the Director of the Victorian Melanoma Service at The Alfred and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. Victoria completed her PhD at Monash University/VMS and Peter MacCallum, titled Clinical and Molecular Characteristics of Aggressive Melanoma (2014), and now supervises doctoral candidates working on clinical and translational research.

Victoria is also a board member of the Melanoma and Skin Cancer Trials Group. She has co-authored chapters for the Cancer Council Australia Melanoma Guidelines and serves as Clinical Lead for the Melanoma Clinical Outcomes Registry. Victoria is also the Victorian Lead for the Australian Centre of Excellence for Melanoma Imaging and Diagnosis.

We are incredibly proud of Cate and Victoria’s contributions.

These are just two of many remarkable journeys. Over the next 12 months, I will share more stories from our cohort—stories that reflect the enduring impact of a St Catherine’s education.