Miranda Smith (2017)
Queen’s College is utmost a community where “no one gets left behind” and no one eats their meals alone. It is a precious opportunity to be brought out of your shell in early adulthood and expand your horizons. While living at Queen’s, you have the opportunity to try new hobbies, new food, explore your identity, and push yourself academically in a supportive environment.
Personally, moving from Hong Kong to Australia at 18 to attend university, being a Queener was a fantastic opportunity to make new groups of life-long friendships and greatly helped in building a community in Melbourne for me. Professionally, Queen’s College provided the privilege of meeting Wyverns in my chosen field, who were generous in providing career advice and insights that have remained fruitful.
I am a relatively recent Wyvern, but I have heard of a lot of changes made since COVID-19 at Queen’s. With drastic societal change comes the opportunity to adapt historical traditions to be more inclusive of all genders and not hold on to convention for convention’s sake. I am excited to see how Queen’s College continues to merge its quirky traditions like wearing watermelons on your head to rowing races, with a youthful community.
I am Marketing Manager for Australia at Affordable Art Fair organizing large-scale art fairs, last year I launched our Sydney fair and re-launched our Melbourne fair after COVID-19. Currently I am working on our newest launch fair coming to Australia in 2024. Alongside this role, I am also a professional artist in Hong Kong and Australia. I am currently working on a body of work for an international exhibition on the horizon.