Here’s the story of the renaming of your magazine

Happy to hear the opening of the front door that signalled my return to the house, my daughter, aged two, looked up from her puzzle to greet me. She smiled, un-smiled, stared with confusion, looked horrified then burst into tears. I’d done the unthinkable. I had a haircut. A fairly decent one. For a moment, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. But in the words of the Scarlet Pimpernel, “a moment was all I could spare.” I laughed, tried unsuccessfully to suppress it, and ran to embrace her. I had changed what was familiar, safe and comforting to her. For me, it was reinvigorating and easier to care for as a busy mum.

Death and taxes are supposedly the only guarantees in life. Change could easily be added to that short list. There’s beautiful reassurance with consistency, but over time and with growth, change can be a positive. I promise!

For 33 years, Reflections has been sharing alumni stories and Avondale updates. And from the Stories Survey you completed, we know there’s more to embrace with our alumni around the world. The newly-named magazine Transformed is a response to your feedback.

Three themes emerged from the survey.

“Tell us about lives that are being changed,” you said, particularly the lives of our students told from their perspective and in their words. “It came to mind as an ideal aspiration,” one of you wrote. A recurring statement: make it personal.

You wanted to maintain a connection to campus through stories about how our staff members and students engage with the community, the quality of our courses, and improvements to our infrastructure.

But the impact of an education at Avondale, about how it prepares us to serve our world for good, is of most interest. Where are our graduates now? you asked. Feature our alumni (“not just the famous ones”), you told us. Show how our research is improving lives.

You balanced these suggestions with calls to maintain objectivity—“keep it real”—and brevity (with one of you suggesting we publish more listicles).

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

In 2022, we merged Transformed with the newsletter The Experience and will now publish fortnightly, with a special winter issue in hardcopy.

Please keep in touch and share your stories. We value you and your journey.

Rachel Humphries
Associate Editor

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