BALMORAL K-12 Community College has welcomed back a familiar face for 2022, with a former student finding herself on staff after many other jobs and considerable overseas travel.

Kate Cameron has much to reflect on with her journey back to Balmoral, and the new education support trainee is thrilled to be home again.

“I grew up at Pigeon Ponds and did my schooling up until Year 9, before I went to boarding school in Hamilton,” she said.

“I went straight out of Year 12 into University of Ballarat and I was accepted into Exercise and Sports Science.

“I did twelve months of that and realized that it wasn’t for me, so I went and did my beauty therapy course … I worked in Ballarat as a beauty therapist for three years.”

Kate then worked on the Sunshine Coast for another year, then an overseas opportunity came up through her sister; having already been in places such as Europe and South Korea as a teenager, she didn’t hesitate.

“I just sort of fell into a job in Canada,” she said.

“I got a job six hours north of Toronto, Ontario at a summer camp – I started there as a nanny for the director’s kids.”

The three-month job as a nanny led to related work as an au pair in Alberta for another eighteen months, and then the trend westward landed her in Whistler, north of Vancouver, in a five-star hotel as a beauty therapist.

“When I lived in Whistler, I had to walk a few hundred metres to catch the bus,” Kate said.

“There was a black bear that lived in my area and I would often see him on my way to work which was surreal.”

Working at a five-star hotel wasn’t as glamorous as it sounds - Kate recalled one Christmas Day where she was working with two other foreign girls for a mere seven dollars an hour and a group of women clients reminded them of home in a way that stung.

“We were asked why they were working on a holiday, to which we replied, ‘(we) don’t live here’.”

The women then said, “you must have to work on Christmas Day, you don’t have any family here anyway”.

Kate said the comment irked her; she remembered thinking, “thanks for reminding me”.

After returning to Australia, admitting the plane trip back was “an emotional experience” where she “cried all the way”, and said “once I got home, I realised how homesick I had been”.

Kate said with all her travelling, she had a new appreciation for her home region.

“What a great community I've got - so I've just sort of stayed,” she said.

“Because I loved working with the kids overseas, I’ve just got this job and I’ve fallen in love with it.”

“I’m like a teacher’s aide, I’m currently working with the foundation students which is super exciting because (it’s) their first couple of weeks of school and they’re just full of energy and excited about everything, which is great.”

Kate is also over the moon about the school.

“It’s amazing,” she said.

“The staff are fantastic, they’re super welcoming.

“It’s funny because my grade five teacher is still here, and now I’m working alongside my grade five teacher, which is a bit bananas.”

That teacher is Beverley Munro, who now as a senior school teacher in her third stint at Balmoral, said she was happy to see Kate return.

“I have fond memories of Kate as a student, including our camp to Roses Gap,” Beverley said.

“I’m very proud of the confident young lady she has become, who has already packed a lot of experiences into her life.

“So, on my return to the school, what a lovely surprise to now work with Kate as a colleague as she contributes to the community she grew up in.”

Kate said she maintains a love for travel, citing a surprising destination – Guatemala – as her favourite travel spot.

“It was just eye-opening and beautiful,” she said.

“Not as scary as people said it was going to be.

“I did a 14-day tour through Guatemala and Belize – it was just amazing.”

But for now, she is thrilled about her new job and content with helping out with the family farm, including hanging out with her two dogs, Djock and Milly.

Kate admitted her family were somewhat bemused by her long odysseys coming full circle.

“My dad said to me the other night, it’s been a long and interesting journey to get back to where you are,” she said.

“I’ve gone around and done a lot of things just to end up back up home again, so dad just asked, ‘What are you doing?’”