"I find that a bit confounding," said principal Giselle Talbot at the opening of Marist College Bendigo's new Marie-Therese Centre.

"Maybe mums always get put to the back."

Marie-Therese was honoured at the centre's opening ceremony as both the mother of Marcellin Champagnat, but also as a skilled artisan in her own right.

The centre will be the base for the school's Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths curriculum.

"This is the most important building because it's where all of the vocation will come from," said Ms Talbot.

The name was chosen intentionally to encourage the college's young female students to think that a career in STEAM is possible.

"It's about giving girls the opportunity to see it as a real pathway," said Ms Talbot.

"If it's named after a man, there's an automatic, unseen blocker. It's a glass ceiling that happens for girls all the time."

Maree Edwards, State Member for Bendigo West said the inclusion of arts in STEM was a controversial but important choice.

"There's that interconnectivity between all of those fields of learning that is important. You have to have arts because English, language - all that is part of communication and you have to have that as part of the broader offering of science, technology, engineering and maths," said Ms Edwards.

"You can't have them without art."

The new building cost more than $8 million, with the state government contributing $2 million through the Non-Government Schools Capital Fund.

Maiden Gully is one of Bendigo's biggest growth suburbs, said Ms Edwards, with the new building helping the area move into a new era of technology.

"These are the kids that will have the jobs of the future," she said.

"So starting them now, learning that stuff - whether it be in primary school or even earlier at Discovery Centre - then going on and learning about it in the tech school or coming to a school where they have a fantastic offering of a STEAM or STEM building is amazing."