Glennie celebrates milestone
School hosts 100-year reunion
ISABEL Sharp knows better than anyone that once you’re a Glennie girl, you’re always a Glennie girl.
The 97-year-old Toowoomba resident was one of the popular guests at a 100-year celebration on Saturday of the private school’s alumni network, the Glennie Old Girls Association.
Mrs Sharp, who was Isabel Campbell when she joined the school as a boarder in 1935, said Glennie’s success was its adherence to the values and beliefs that had shaped it since it was founded 110 years ago.
“It’s still the same, isn’t it? It still has the same background and feeling amongst the girls,” she said.
Mrs Sharp said she was heavily involved in athletics and tennis during her time at Glennie, and could still recite French poems she learnt in languages class.
She became heavily involved with the Old Girls Association in the years after, putting together a newsletter that kept alumni from across the world connected with the school.
Her daughter Jean Kent, who graduated 30 years after her mother, said Glennie was special for empowering its students to achieve.
“I think it was a huge privilege to come here,” she said.
“Everyone was encouraged to become very independent and each particular girl’s abilities were fostered.
“Looking back, I could see how teachers did that for us.”
Dozens of past graduates were at the special reunion on Saturday, enjoying historic school artefacts that include Mrs Sharp’s black velvet tea dress she donated years ago.