An Evening with Jasmin Stewart

On Monday 20 February, Perth College (PC) boarders were very fortunate to welcome guest speaker, Jasmin Stewart into our boarding community. Jasmin is an AFL footballer who was drafted by the Fremantle Dockers as pick number 4 in 2018. She also recently won the 2022 WAFLW grand final and the Lou Knitter Medal for the player judged best afield.

Born in Northam, attending primary school in Kambalda and Kalgoorlie, Jasmin is a proud Jaru woman originally from the Halls Creek region in the Kimberley and was a boarder herself at St. Mary’s Anglican Grammar School for Girls’. Jasmin is an advocate for raising awareness, educating people on her culture and starting important conversations about heritage. Jasmine also designed the first ever AFLW Indigenous guernsey for the Fremantle Dockers.

Mrs Ashby, who taught and coached Jasmin at St Mary’s, conducted a Q&A style evening, where Jasmin shared her stories on her boarding experience, the life lessons she’s learned through football, and the pride she takes in being an Aboriginal woman and her responsibility to educate and engage those around her.

Jasmin spoke about her journey of discovering her culture and heritage, and how it has shaped her into the person she is today. She candidly spoke about how taking a year between finishing school and going into the AFL, was the best decision for her, as looking back now at 18 years old she had not yet devleoped the emotional intelligence or resilience that she now understands is required in playing the game that she loves. To finish the evening, Jasmin imparted some advice for our boarders as they go through their PC journey,

“that it’s okay to fail, to learn from these experiences and try again tomorrow.”

It was wonderful to hear Jasmin speak, especially on topics that align so much with the vision of PC. Like Jasmin, we believe that failure is not an ending, but in fact a new beginning to try again, to try something new and to keep trying. Our mantra is for our students ‘to be brave, not perfect’ so that they can shape their own futures, and it was a joy to see that sentiment reflected in the conversation with Jasmin.