Nicole Muri of Channel 10 News, speaks with eighth graders Ashley Galvao, 14, center, and Victoria Correia, 13,  during the annual ‘Women Who Make a Difference’ luncheon at Woodlawn Regional Catholic School in Pawtucket Monday.   Times Photo/Butch Adams

By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — One woman is poised to graduate college, another is navigating through her first job, and another is re-launching her career after a brief detour for motherhood.

They all shared their journeys with a roomful of younger counterparts Monday at the Woodlawn Catholic Regional School’s annual “Women Who Make a Difference” luncheon.
The get-together, an annual event for the last eight years at the school, is offered to the female students in grades six through eight as part of Women’s History Month.
Of the special buffet set up in the school library, Principal Veronica Procopio told the girls, “This is not my appreciation for you. This is for you to discover your appreciation of yourself. To find the dream waiting in yourself and to go for it.”
Procopio spoke of the importance of believing in one’s self and achieving goals, even those that appear to be out of reach. “If someone tells you that ‘you can’t do that,” just shake your head and move on. Don’t listen to that negative force,” she stated.
Featured speakers at the lunchoen included Emily Donohue, a reporter for the Rhode Island Catholic newspaper; Nicole Muri, a news reporter and anchor on Channel 10  News;  and Dollymae Mellish, a senior at Providence College who was named to this year’s College Leadership of Rhode Island panel.
Donohue, a New York native and recent graduate of Boston University, said that landing a job at Rhode Island Catholic is “the first step for me” in a career path that sprang from her love of writing. She said that a newswriting internship helped define her focus and showed her how to turn something she enjoyed doing into a job.
Donohue admitted she was still finding her way around in a job that has her traveling from Woonsocket to West Warwick to Westerly covering events.
“There are too many towns that begin with W,” she joked. However, she said she is enjoying her stint at the statewide Catholic newspaper, and advised the students to consider what subjects they are good at, whether it be English, math, science or music., when choosing a career.
Muri told the girls that her career path had taken some twists and turns before she landed her high-profile job in front of the TV cameras. She said she had dreamed of one day working in television since winning an auction that offered a day of filming the former news program “PM Magazine” with then-hosts Matt Lauer and Sheila Martinez.
Muri said she did college internships and worked her way up through small cable TV shows and radio news jobs to finally landing a gig as a part-time on-camera reporter at Channel 12.
However, after marriage (to TV meteorologist Mark Searles), and the birth of her two children, Muri said she chose to step off the fast track for a few years by working freelance.
Muri now works as a news reporter two days a week and anchors the newsdesk on the Saturday and Sunday broadcasts.
She advised the female students to pursue internships and spend as much free time as they can learning about the job that interests them. She also told them to “be persistent” when a potential employer suggests that they “stay in touch.”
“It’s important to keep yourself front and center,” Muri said.
Mellish, a 2000 graduate of Woodlawn Catholic Regional School, said her main message to her younger peers is to “keep life interesting and be all you can be.”
Mellish credited her parents and many of her teachers at Woodlawn for giivng her the life skills and preparation to be successful.
Always spirited and athletic, she recalled being told by some male high school classmates at St. Raphael Academy that she couldn’t play football. “But I got on the team, and the same day, I quit,” she laughed. “Whenever I was told I couldn’t do something because of being a girl, it always made me work to do something more.”
Mellish, a business management major who also works part-time at CVS Pharmacy corporate headquarters, urged the students to find mentors and become involved in as many programs and activities as possible during their school years.
She also urged them to choose their friends wisely. “Get away from those negative people,” Mellish advised.