After a year away due to COVID-19 the Old Collegians' Association was more excited than ever to host the annual Business Breakfast on Tuesday 11 May. The breakfast is a great way to connect with members of the MLMC community and hear success stories from our alumni.
Each guest was treated to a delicious breakfast prepared and served by the Senior VCAL students, along with a tea and coffee from Catherine’s Cafe.
This year’s Business Breakfast showcased Amanda Scardamaglia (Class of 2000), an Associate Professor and Department Chair at Swinburne University's Law School. She spoke of her time at MLMC and growing up on a strawberry farm longing for a fast-paced life in the city. Amanda soon realised the pressures of this lifestyle as a young lawyer which resulted in her feeling burnt out and unmotivated. Amanda chose to switch up her career path and follow her passion for academia, completing her PhD and going on to establish Swinburne's Law School. Amanda spoke of the influence MLMC has had on her life and career choices, and how the Social Justice Prefect in her wanted the Swinburne law school to feel like the community she had grown up in.
The second speaker of the morning was John Van Gastel (Class of 1985), a costumier to the arts. With dazzling images of costumes he had designed and created for the Melbourne Theatre Company's adaptation of Shakespeare in Love, John spoke of how costumes can “tell a story without any dialogue” helping to portray emotions and periods of time. John was quite the comedian sharing fun stories about his experiences working with English movie star Kate Winslet on The Dressmaker and Australia's Eric Bana in Romulus, My Father. John has had a very successful 30-year career, including the television series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Dancing With The Stars and Underbelly: Squizzy.
A big thank you to both Amanda and John for sharing their stories as well as to Savanna Fanfulla (Class of 2014), who provided some comedic entertainment with her rendition of Boom Boom Boom Boom, a parody of the Vengaboys' song Zoom Zoom Zoom Zoom.
The event was a huge success and it would not have been possible without the assistance of all those who volunteered their time. The Old Collegians’ Association looks forward to seeing some familiar faces return throughout the year at other events and we look forward to hosting this event again in the future.
