BA, LLB, GradDipLegalPrac
At St Margaret's 1995-1999
Phoebe Young is a lawyer, writer, keynote speaker and mum to two extremely adorable (her words) young sons. She attended St Margaret’s from 1995 and in 1999 became Prefect and Boarding Captain. Following school she spent a year travelling and working in Spain and England, before returning to Brisbane to attend university. During her first semester of tertiary study, Phoebe suffered a rare and near-fatal illness which resulted in the loss of both her legs below the knee, her left hand at the wrist and much of her vision. After multiple surgeries and a gruelling stay in hospital, she determinedly learned to walk on prosthetic legs, navigate the world with low vision, regain her independence and eventually returned to her university studies.
Phoebe graduated with degrees in Arts and Laws with Honours, before spending two years as an associate to The Honourable Justice Ann Lyons of the Supreme Court of Queensland. She was admitted as a solicitor to the Legal Profession and has since dedicated her career to working and advocating for our community’s most vulnerable people in not-for-profit Legal Centres and Government Departments. She is also an Ambassador to the Queensland Eye Institute.
Phoebe believes that many of the aspects of life which she most values today began to develop during her St Margaret’s years, including her empathy, ingenuity, resilience, open-mindedness, service to the community, keen thirst for knowledge and continuous search for meaning in everyday life, as well as her healthy sense of humour (some might call it mischief), which was vitally important in surviving many long Sundays with her peers away from their families in the boarding house.
She will always be grateful for the kindness and compassion of her school community which pulled her through some of her toughest days in hospital as a young adult. Her friends and favourite teachers came to sit by her hospital bedside and her room was permanently covered in flowers and cards from her Maggie’s mates and their families.
Phoebe is an example of the courage and spirit that lives within all of us and which, even when exposed to life’s greatest challenges, can never be extinguished. She lives in Toowong with her husband, Ben, and their sons, dog and chickens.
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