AUTHOR: IRIS LEACH DOWE
This transcript has been edited and condensed for concision.
So, Ms Papas, this is your first term at CGGS. This interview is a chance to get to know you… What does your role here as executive director involve?
It’s a fantastic role that is all about how we connect with the world. It’s looking at all our co-curricular programs, the boarding house, our sense of community as a whole, at our culture, at our defence connections, our physical resources. And it’s all those bits and pieces, I think, that help create and define “experience”, when layered on top of all the other wonderful things we do here, that create an amazing ‘whole’. My role is about creating pathways and opportunities for us as a school to do good in the community, but also to be positioned to learn as much as we can from those around us. It’s a very cool job, and it’s a very broad job, but that’s something that appeals to me, as I’m always someone who has had broad interests!
In truth, I’m really just getting my feet on the ground at the moment. Mrs Motherway, who looks after me, is exquisite, and I am so lucky to have her! I’ve found every staff member, and of course, the girls, have been incredibly welcoming, but she more than anyone has helped me find my feet. We’re one big team here!
I’ve heard several incredible tales of your career as professional harpist from the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Tell me about your journey!
I’ve had a lot of fun, but I think that’s what life should be about! I’ve been blessed with incredible opportunity; my parents supported me in learning so many instruments from a young age… piano, harp, and all the rest, but I was fortunate to experience a lot through school – Brisbane Girls Grammar – as well as at the Qld Conservatorium Music School with the Queensland Youth Orchestra. I was 17 when I had my first professional gigs with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and the Queensland Philharmonic orchestra, and in those days I played for all the operas, musicals and ballets that came to town. I’ve met some incredible people through music: I’ve played for Li Cunxin (Mao’s Last Dancer) in his final season of Swan Lake with the Australian Ballet, John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John, and I got to sing as a backup for Mariah Carey at one point, and all sorts of things like that. Some of our parents might recall Victor Borger; I got to be his guest artist for a couple of days for his 85th and 86 birthday tours which was very cool…. I got to sing the National anthem a Wallabies game…lots of wonderful opportunities!
My music-ing continues, still, but it’s very difficult to be full-time teacher and be a full-time musician. I’m really lucky to still play with the Queensland Pops Orchestra, which will be challenging now I’m interstate, but it’s wonderful to keep that going and I think it’s really important for me as a music teacher to keep that connection to my craft. It also brings me great balance.
What do you believe are the benefits of Co-curriculars?
There are so many! There’s a growing body of research behind which skills are going be required for students to succeed in our 21st-century world, and into the skills that drive well-being and social progress. It identifies that students who are conscientious, motivated, goal- driven and collegial are more likely to succeed, and emphasises the need to develop the whole child, which is why it’s so important to have a balanced academic program, pastoral care program and a co-curricular program in a school.
These 21st-century skills such as creativity and critical thinking have cognitive elements but also social elements, and I think that’s where we see the real strength in our co-curricular programs, because you take those cognitive learnings, juxtapose them into an ensemble or social setting, and the result is you learn how to function as a team. You spark creatively off each other.
What is your advice for our girls?
I think the best gift anyone can have is to know themselves. That’s the journey of a lifetime to be honest, and it takes courage, and it takes humility to be really truthful with yourself. It’s very easy in life to get caught up in the peripheral, but I think you should always challenge yourself to be 100% truthful with yourself; to always get to know yourself; to be kind to yourself.
I think you need to acknowledge who you are; I think you need to accept to you are, and I think you need to bring your gifts to the world, whatever they may be. And, that we should all acknowledge that not everyone is gifted and talented in the same way, and that we shouldn’t be.
I love the fact that we are so diverse here at CGGS! How lucky are we to have in this one place such diversity of cultural background, of religious background, of such diversity in thought and experience? In so many parts of the world, and in so many parts of the country, we’re not there yet. We have privilege, and therefore the responsibility to look around us and see who we can assist.
FAVOURITE SONG?
How on earth can I answer that?!O.k. I was in school and there was a song that came out by Julian Lennon, John Lennon’s son, called Saltwater. It’s probably the song that’s had the most profound impact on my life, because there’s a line in there that reads, “what will I think of me the day that I die?” It’s a great question.
It’s made me reflect on what I value and what I stand for, what’s important to me, and why those things matter. So, I’ve lived my life thinking, I want to be happy with me, and made life choices that I know align with my ethics. Integrity is everything – it’s incredibly freeing living a life that’s aligned – it brings happiness.
FUN FACTS ABOUT MS PAPAS:
- She likes long-distance hiking and has hiked the Camino (look it up!)
- She is an aunt to six nephews and nieces
- She likes to swing dance
- She makes a mean chocolate brownie!
- She has scuba-dived at the top of Malaysia
- She was an Australian selector of National Judging Coordinator of Rhythmic Gymnastics, judging for Australia all over the world, including World Championships Commonwealth Games, and the Sydney Olympics