Palladians Portfolio Update | Term 1, 2025
Discussions With Dr. Vicky Au.
The Palladian Portfolio has been buzzing with participation in recent events like the 2025 “Be Like Her” LIVE FM and AGM where the representatives heard firsthand from the dedicated workers within the Palladians Association. We’re looking forward to future collaborations and events to bring our vision alive!
Earlier in Week 8, we had the privilege to meet Dr. Vicky Au, a distinguished Palladian who graduated from Mac.Rob in 1993. Dr. Vicky Au has led projects as Deputy Lead at CSIRO’s Hydrogen Industry Mission and recently, works as the Director for Decarbonisation for the Asia Pacific region at Wood.
She reached out to talk to the Palladian Student Reps, on behalf of several interested alumni, intrigued as to what new opportunities and networks could be offered to students at Mac.Rob. Together, in what is hopefully the first of many meetings, the team brainstormed engaging projects to bring forward. These involve and are certainly not limited to:
Developing more mentorship opportunities for students to connect with industry professionals
Proposals for forums or conferences to host for students, sharing their projects and solutions to real-life business problems (like SharkTank pitch events!)
Expanding on the current Careers Day for students to gain exposure to various fields
The portfolio is thrilled with this opportunity to work directly with alumni to sustain and strengthen our Mac.Rob network.
Alveena H (12F) | Palladian Student Representative
LIVE FM: “Be Like Her” 2025.
March 7th was an incredibly special day for the past and present Mac.Rob school community. To celebrate International Women’s Day, the Student Leadership team were involved in creating Mac.Rob’s very own radio show, “Be Like Her”, which streamed on LIVE FM on March 17th. We interviewed seven notable Palladians: Catriona Nguyen-Robertson, Elisabeth Tuckey, Beverley Baxter Woollard, Judith Burich, Sophia Richardson, Shanika Galaudage, Lisa McKay-Brown, and Mac.Rob’s very own Ms. Deb Cordingley; we heard lots of inspiring career stories and messages about female empowerment from a range of different Palladians, some who even graduated in the early 1960s!
The SLT also participated in a training workshop the day before, under the guidance of Ralph Barba from LIVE FM, who helped us become proficient in skills like quick thinking and adaptability to ask the best questions to our guests.
From the hilarious anecdotes shared by the Palladians, to the insightful advice they shared with listeners, and adversities they faced such as gender inequality, it was a truly enriching experience.
Click here to view the flip-book of the interviewers and guest speakers.
Thank you so much to everyone who participated and tuned into the podcast! Special thanks to our alumni organisation, the Palladians Association, and Ms. Ziyad, Mac.Rob’s Community Partnerships Project Manager.
Rutvi D (11J) | Palladian Representative
KPMG Mentorship Information Session.
On March 18th, Mac.Rob was fortunate enough to hear from a group of KPMG employees (3/4 of whom were alumni) on an upcoming mentorship program! We are so grateful for the information session hosted by the wonderful Camilla Scales, Pallavi Arora, and Anushka Gupta on the value of their upcoming KPMG partnership with our school; we also extend a warm thank you to Tess Fitzgerald (KPMG partner and palladian) as well for joining briefly on Zoom!
The mentorship program consists of five sessions held at the KPMG office in order to give students a window into the working lifestyle and diverse range of career options available to students once they enter the workforce. It was so interesting to hear about this exciting mentorship program, and thank you again to KPMG for giving us this incredible opportunity!
Sakina K (11A) | Palladian Student Representative