This journey took me to New York, where at the church of St Francis Xavier on 14th Street I met with Sr Kate O’Neil, former student of Clonard and the aunt of two alumni, Jacinta Ryan (2014) and Erin Ryan (2017). Sr Kate has worked with women in prostitution in the Philippines and post pandemic in New York. It was on the steps of St Francis that Sr Kate introduced me to Good Samaritan Sister Winfred who, on a Sunday afternoon, was making her way to the United Nations where she would join a discussion on the recently released report on the progress of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Her disappointment was evident when she shared her concern saying, "We’re at the halfway mark and we haven’t made sufficient progress towards achievement of the 2030 goals". Two days later I sat at a restaurant not far from the UN having lunch with Mercy Global Action intern Catherine Edwards (past pupil of Mercedes College - a Mercy school in SA) and alumni of Sacred Heart Prue Smith (Kenny 2004) currently employed by UN Women, and Heather Connell (1998) who is the Director of Product in Activation & Platform Integrations at Kinesso - an agency of Interpublic Group (IPG). What did these three women have in common? Courage, determination, curiosity, and a willingness to step into the unknown and embrace opportunity - typical attributes of a Mercy education.

In the final months of a one year internship Catherine was an assistant to the Coordinator of Mercy Global Action, Sr Angela Reed (RSM). Mercy Global Action (MGA) is the international justice arm of Mercy International Association. Through Mercy Global Action, the Sisters of Mercy are able to expand their advocacy capacity and re-imagine ways to influence global policy. With contacts on the ground and dedicated Task Forces comprised of representatives from across the Mercy World, Mercy Global Action is able to exchange knowledge, identify best practices, and bring the two chief areas of concern - Degradation of Earth and Displacement of Peoples - to Mercy’s justice work, including at the United Nations.

Prue Smith, through her work for UN Women, is dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.

UN Women supports UN Member States to set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programs, and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide. It works globally to make the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals a reality for women and girls and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on four strategic priorities:

1. Women lead, participate in, and benefit equally from governance systems.

2. Women have income security, decent work, and economic autonomy

3. All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence. 

4. Women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in building sustainable peace and resilience, and benefit equally from the prevention of natural disasters and conflicts and humanitarian action.

Heather Connell moved to New York in the Summer of 2014. Not wanting to fall into the trap of a double winter, she couldn’t wait around for a job offer to come, so she bit the bullet and took her chances with a three month tourist visa. After resigning from REA (realestate.com.au), a company she had passionately worked at for eight years, she embarked on her New York adventure. At REA, she had been an Advertisement Traffic Manager in AdOps, an Ad Tech Solutions specialist, and finally a Product Manager. New York, being a key city for Advertising Technology seemed like a good fit. Although she wanted a job in Product, her connections and experience landed her a job as a Partner Integration Engineer at an Advertising Technology company in the travel space – Intent Media. In this role she rounded out her skill set, working directly with customers on the implementation of an advertising technology platform, and eventually became Global Director of the Integration Team. Sadly, Covid affected the travel industry, with travel advertising a major casualty. Intent ultimately closed its doors in October 2020. She returned to Australia temporarily until November 2021 when she was offered the opportunity to join Kinesso - an agency of Interpublic Group (IPG) as a Director of Product in Activation & Platform Integrations. "I didn’t know how much I wanted to get back into Product until it happened, and it’s been a great experience so far". Heather is still at Kinesso, and she is now heading up the Investment Products Portfolio. "I am happy to call New York home again". New York is a unique city, and it’s certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, but it is a city that provides unlimited opportunity. 

In 2024 Year 8 Humanities students at SHC will benefit from Catherine’s experience at Mercy Global Action and Prue’s work at UN Women when the students explore these two organisations. It is our hope that students will access speakers via Zoom and their work will be based on actual UN projects as they learn about the development of Human Rights, the role of the United Nations and the challenges of solving some of the world's biggest problems through real world case studies from Mercy Global Action and UN Women. This experience will help our students to develop their understanding of key concepts which will culminate in a model UN to resolve a current world issue.

Heather will make herself available to mentor current students who have a passion in media and technology.

Lunch was followed by a tour of the United Nations building led by Prue and the ease of conversation and friendship continued well into the afternoon.. 

- Anna Negro (1981), Sacred Heart College Principal