It is a fitting description for a job that allowed her to watch something grow from nothing.
But it was not an easy start.
Ms O’Brien stepped into the role of senior education improvement leader in 2020, when the merger of Shepparton’s secondary schools began taking shape.
Then, the college was operating across three campuses – McGuire College, Mooroopna Secondary College and Wanganui Park Secondary College – while Shepparton High School had been vacated for the $130 million build.
“There was a lot of anxiety in the community about the success,” Ms O’Brien said.
However, she was the first to admit that the early days across the three sites were “not our finest moments”, as she asked families for one thing: a chance.
That mantra carried the college through to 2022, when all students moved on to the current campus.
Ms O’Brien remembers the first morning vividly, buses and cars arriving left, right and centre, kids streaming through the gates from all over.
“I remember thinking to myself then, if we don’t make this work right from day one, it will never get over the line,” she said.
But as she prepares to retire at the end of this year, it’s seeing how the students have come together that she is most proud of.
“People on the outside don’t see that unless you come into the college and walk around,” Ms O’Brien said.
“You can see how united the students are, how differently the cultures mix, how proud the kids are and how much they want to improve.”
With around 1900 students currently enrolled, she says she knows every face, even if the names don’t always come straight away.
Her journey to this point began in 1977 at the brand new Glengala Park Primary School in Sunshine West, an open-plan school where 150 Year 4 to 6 students were taught by five first- and second-year teachers.
“None of us knew what we were doing,” she said with a laugh.
It was the experience that taught her a lesson she has never forgotten: knowing your students matters.
After returning to Shepparton to marry, Ms O’Brien, a Shepparton girl through and through, donned many school colours.
She spent 11 years at Mooroopna Park Primary School, then worked at Tallygaroopna Primary School and briefly at Guthrie Street Primary School before she was approached by Wilmot Road Primary School.
The move saw Ms O’Brien spend 11 years at Wilmot Road and really “cut her teeth on leadership”, being appointed to assistant principal and then principal.
Roles followed as principal of Grahamvale Primary School, regional network leader, a role she expected to be in for 12 months that turned into five years, and principal of Benalla P-12, seeing it through its own merger of primary and secondary schools.
For someone who never imagined leading a school, it is a remarkable trajectory.
“I just wanted to be a classroom teacher,” Ms O’Brien said.
She was quick to credit those who encouraged her and saw in her what she couldn’t see in herself.
Now when she gets the chance to return to the classroom, she remembers exactly why she became a teacher.
Her advice to those just starting out is simple and comes from a lifetime of learning from colleagues.
“Learn from others, never stop improving and build strong relationships while having high expectations of yourself,” she said.
After 50 years, Ms O’Brien is looking forward to her Mondays without hearing the bell ring.
“I’ll be getting together with my girlfriends for either morning tea or lunch,” she said.
Beyond that, she plans to travel, take golf lessons to see if it becomes her sport and find ways to support the community.
All the students she has taught, and now the school she helped build, will be a lasting part of her legacy.
