To mark Mentone Girls’ Secondary College’s (MGSC) 70 years, over a thousand former students and staff came together for a grand celebration on Sunday 26 October. This was the culmination of 12 months of planning and preparations, with the Parents and Friends’ Association actively involved in its success.
The school initiated a major project to digitise archival material to preserve it for the future and to make it accessible on the day. Diving into the archives uncovered how the parent community has supported and resourced the students and school over seven decades through adaptability and responsiveness.
A clear example was providing by the PFA contributing funding to the digitisation project – a technology that would have been unimaginable in 1955! Every edition of the school magazine has now been scanned, and old videos preserved. Alumni – including current PFA members – were visibly delighted to search the catalogue, find themselves in yearbooks and view the videos on computers in the library. There was laughter, recollections and countless thank-yous, adding value to the collective memory of MGSC.
The PFA actively assisted on the day in ‘classic’ form – yes, they providing a much-appreciated fundraising sausage sizzle.
Photo: Current PFA President Sharon Wright (centre) with fellow parents at the 70th birthday celebration.