SEEMINGLY simple acts such as picking up rubbish, pulling out weeds and caring about wildlife has helped Andrea Dennett to change the world bit-by-bit on the Bellarine Peninsula.
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For Grace Mulcahy following her passion for mathematics, travelling and the outdoors has landed her working in mine exploration in Western Australia's Pilbara region.
Margot Serch (née Podger) found a curiosity in patients with the initials NFPA after their name - no fixed place of abode - and for decades became a passionate volunteer working in welfare, alcohol rehabilitation and feeding the homeless and less fortunate.
"Do what is second nature to you," were Ms Dennett's words of advice. "Be authentic and follow your passion."
The trio was inducted into Loreto College's Women In Time, inspiring alumni roll call for International Women's Day on March 8, 2024.
Ms Dennett, class of 1981, built a 30-year career as a psychiatric nurse at Lakeside in Ballarat, then Dax House in Geelong, while at the same time pursuing her environmental passion based in her home on the Bellarine Peninsula.
There was a beloved Indigenous Moonah tree on a national register that captured her attention and, securing an adopt a park grant, Ms Dennett helped lead the creation on Moonah Park. What had been a waste-littered space has become reinvigourated as a wildlife corridor.
Ms Dennett has also become a strong protector of the hooded plover, an endangered shorebird repeatedly under threat from new waves of holiday makers and dog walkers trampling beaches.
She wants people to enjoy the beautiful environment and lifestyle on the coast while looking after the nature that brought them to the area in the first place.
This, Ms Dennett said, stemmed from a love of fundraising and social justice cultivated in her school days.
In school and growing up in Beaufort, Grace Mulcahy (class of 2016) never imagined she would end up working as a fly-in-fly-out surveyor in the Pilbara. Even at university, Ms Mulcahy had thought she would try an internship just to officially rule it out of her career path.
Only, the mines have plenty that loved: a new-found interest in technologies, no day the same, a bit of the outdoors and travel. Plus, she liked to measure things, from ocean floors to fences, and this graduate position with Rio Tinto was all about measuring dirt - where to put it and how much was left behind.
Ms Mulcahy said there were challenges being a young woman in a male dominated environment. She felt the hurdle for women now, was "not so much getting the seat at the table but keeping the seat and making an impact".
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Like Ms Dennett, Ms Mulcahy continues to stay true to her needs, wants and interests in making an impact.
"I'm still working in the background to get my next set of qualifications and keep levelling myself up as a surveyor," Ms Mulcahy said.
"My goal is to lead teams. That's something I found I really enjoy, a bit of leadership...I love surveying, but I wouldn't be surprised if I don't do it forever either."
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Ms Serch urged new generations of Loreto girls to always treat everyone equally in whatever they do.
The label NFPA - no fixed place of abode - on people troubled Ms Serch for decades but the 86-year-old said volunteering in programs like St Vincent de Paul soup van in Melbourne were some of the best years of her life.
"Never believe that you're better than anyone else. People who are disadvantaged... if you can only reach out and sit and talk to them you'll be amazing what hear," Ms Serch said. "I think you'll be a better person...
"Remember you haven't walked in their shoes."
