We recently heard from Sabrina Ting from the Class of 2017. Sabrina was awarded the Principal’s Leadership Grant from when she was at Howqua in 2014 and she wanted to report on where this has led her.

After Sabrina left Lauriston, she was appointed as an Officer to the Royal Australian Navy in 2019 and graduated from the Royal Australian Naval College at HMAS Creswell later that year. In 2020, she posted to the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra, completing tri-service military and officer training alongside undergraduate university studies provided by UNSW. In 2021 Sabrina was selected to be the Squadron Cadet Captain of Echo Squadron (one of 6 squadrons at the Academy) for 2022. A demanding leadership opportunity, in this role she was responsible for leading almost 200 of her fellow trainee officers in a military training environment.

At the end of 2022, Sabrina graduated from the Australian Defence Force Academy, awarded with Distinguished Graduate status, as well as receiving a Bachelor of Arts in International Political Studies and History (with Distinction) from UNSW Canberra. At the graduation parade, Sabrina was awarded the Chief of Navy Award by the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, AM, RAN, for the best performance by a Third Year Midshipman in the fields of academic and military achievement, leadership, personal example, and service ethos during her time at the Academy. She thoroughly enjoyed her university studies and at the end of 2022, applied through the Navy to complete an Honours year in International Political Studies, which she was granted. Sabrina is now a Naval Honours student at UNSW Canberra, progressing a thesis in non-conventional warfare in the Indo-Pacific for the remainder of 2023. In 2024, Sabrina will progress to a new posting location to complete her initial employment training.

The Navy has provided Sabrina with some great experiences, including visiting Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Singapore while on duty, and has also allowed her to continue her sporting pursuits, especially in Snowsports and AFL. She was also chosen to be the Navy representative featured on the newly released ADFA promotion and recruiting advertisements.

Sabrina believes that her time at Lauriston has prepared her for the Navy so far. A large factor of this is the education she received at Lauriston, which she believes gave her an advantage at university, but also in terms of the leadership opportunities and training provided both at Howqua and Armadale campuses. Whenever she has told any of her colleagues about the Howqua experience, they say ‘Oh wow, you must find all this (military) stuff really easy then’! But Sabrina also says that as a woman in the ADF, she finds the school’s Women in Leadership seminars and Leadership Conferences that she participated in throughout 2015-2017 are still guiding her today.