Today we celebrated International Women’s Day with the first of our Alumni Breakfast Series events.

What an inspiring morning we had with guest speakers – Associate Professor Lauren Ayton (Class of 2000) and Founder/Creative Director of raraPR Jade Roberts (Class of 1997).

A/Prof Lauren Ayton shared her academic journey, her work in the area of traumatic brain injury and ocular motor function and her involvement in the first-in-human trial of Australia’s first bionic eye device during her time as Clinical Research Team Leader of the Bionic Vision Australia consortium (2010-2017).

Jade Roberts took us through her challenges and triumphs in the PR industry, her experience in boutique to big name PR and advertising agencies, media outlets and retail brands and what inspired her to start her successful business raraPR back in 2011.

While their chosen paths differ, their message to the audience of students, parents and staff was the same. You will make mistakes along the way. Use those mistakes to learn.

Lauren spoke fondly of her school days at Beaconhills and how it influenced her career choice.

While she initially hoped to be a journalist, she remembered a light bulb moment when teacher Les Glasgow announced to the class that the human genome had been mapped.

“That was a life-changing moment for me,” said Lauren, whose work now explores the use of gene therapy in the treatment of retinal disease.

Students who attended the event were keen to ask questions and chat to the speakers afterwards.

A wonderful way to launch our breakfast series and celebrate the strength and resilience of women on this significant day.

The next breakfast series event will be on Friday 24 May at the Pakenham Campus.