TWO years of hitting the books was rewarded this week when 75 Year 12 students at Swan Hill’s two high schools received their ATARs.
They were among 49,581 students across the state who graduated with a Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE).
St Mary MacKillop College principal Michelle Hausler said many of the school’s 39 Year 12 students had experienced an exhausting three years.
“Having had two years of lockdowns and COVID and then the floods hitting them right on their exams,” she said.
“They’ve all done really well considering what they’ve been challenged with.”
From all reports, the students were generally happy with their results and able to get into their chosen courses “and that’s the main thing”.
Ms Hausler said 2022 dux Isabella Gilchrist had been a diligent, hardworking student, as were most of her peers.
Isabella said she barely slept on Sunday night and was nervous when she logged into the computer on Monday morning to check her results online.
After aiming for a score of more than 90, she said she was “very shocked” to see she had achieved 97.95.
“I was hoping to get above 90 to get into my course but I wasn’t expecting such high 90s,” she said.
“Biomedicine at the University of Melbourne is my top preference.”
Isabella said she was hoping the course would lead to a career in either dentistry or medicine, and had her sights set on working in rural Victoria.
“My dad (Andrew) is on the board of the hospital, so it’s always interested me to come back here or another small community to work,” she said.
Isabella, who juggled school with part-time jobs at Boos Place cafe and as a receptionist at Central Mallee Health, said it had been helpful rather than making life more difficult.
“I found that it was good to have a good balance,” she said.
“It gave me a break, and forced me to fully switch off from school.”
Isabella said she was thankful for the support of her teachers, parents Andrew and Melissa, and friends.
“And I’d like to say congratulations to all others who completed their VCE,” she said.
Swan Hill College principal Andrew Sartori said dux Lavinia McCann had worked hard to achieve her ATAR of 90.95.
“I’m really proud of her,” he said.
Lavinia said her score was “a bit better” than expected and she planned to pursue further studies in baking and patisserie, possibly at TAFE in Geelong.
“I like cooking and being creative and it’s fun,” she said.
“I especially like baking and decorating cakes, seeing the final product after all the hard work that goes into it.”
Mum Sharyn McCann said Lavinia was highly motivated, and had put in two years of solid work after doing Year 12 Hospitality (kitchen operations) in Year 11 and prep work over the summer before completing Food Studies this year.
“She really was working non-stop from the beginning right through,” Mrs McCann said.
“She showed total dedication and amazing work in her subjects. Thankfully, she has been rewarded for all of that.”
Mr Sartori said the results from this year’s cohort reflected a goal set late last year to help students who were likely to achieve scores between 40 and 55 to lift them.
“Nearly three-quarters got a score above 50, so we’re very happy about that,” he said.
“Only 50 per cent of kids across the country get a score above 50. That’s raised our median score by two or three points.” *Median study scores by high school*
St Mary Mackillop College 29
Swan Hill College 28
Tyrrell College 28
Robinvale College 25
