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The annual Pembroke Careers Breakfast is the highlight of the old scholar calendar and an important event on the SS calendar. The event was recently held in DY Hall, and as always it was a wonderful event for mentors and students alike.

31 May 2022

Supported by the Old Scholars Committee, this event has continued to grow since it was first initiated and developed in 2011. It is a wonderful and unique opportunity for Pembroke students to connect with old scholars, and current and past parents, who are working in the industries that they are interested in pursuing after graduation. At this year’s event 60 mentors and 123 students were in attendance, and over breakfast questions were asked and career paths discussed. The industries represented on the day included Medicine, Law, Engineering, Social Sciences and Performing Arts, just to name a few!

Careers Breakfast 1

Careers Breakfast, DY Hall

The two 20-minute sessions allowed students to move from one industry to the next and gain valuable insight into career paths they may not have been interested in previously. They were able to hear individual career stories and gain appreciation of the various influences on a person’s career journey. There was also the opportunity at the end of the event for students to ask questions and network before heading to class.

The Careers Break­fast gave me the oppor­tu­ni­ty to talk to sev­er­al peo­ple in the health and med­ical indus­try, in addi­tion to a defence force offi­cer. With my own per­son­al inter­est in sim­i­lar careers it was insight­ful to hear about their day-to-day, as well as the numer­ous path­ways and oppor­tu­ni­ties in their occu­pa­tions — noth­ing I could have ever learnt from a Google search.”
Jade S (Yr 12)

For mentors it was a wonderful opportunity to inspire the next generation but also to catch up with each other! Many mentors knew each other either as classmates or from their previous involvement in the event.

What an oppor­tu­ni­ty the Pem­broke Careers Break­fast is — for both the stu­dents and us old schol­ars alike! My career path has had its twists and turns and con­tin­ues to evolve with time — some­thing I hap­pi­ly share with the stu­dents who so often feel the pres­sure of need­ing to choose their for­ev­er job now. I real­ly enjoy my inter­ac­tions with the Year 11 and 12 stu­dents, who often pleas­ant­ly sur­prise me with their can­dour and con­fi­dence. It is also a tes­ta­ment to the cal­i­bre of our school to see such a diverse range of suc­cess­ful careers amongst our old schol­ars and have them give back to our school com­mu­ni­ty by return­ing to share their own expe­ri­ences and insights.”
Ali (Michell) Phillips (1998)


This year first-time mentors joined us from industries such as Law, Medicine, Architecture and Defence, and we hope that this variety of careers and mentors will help the senior students with their vocational choices in the future. It is lovely to see mentors who attended the breakfast themselves returning to share their knowledge and career pathways.

Thank you to all mentors in attendance on the day and we look forward to seeing you again at the next Careers Breakfast in 2023!

Naomi Diggens
Manager, Old Scholar Engagement