Meet our best and brightest.
They are St George and Sutherland Shire students who were recognised in the 2017 HSC First in Course ceremony held today.
They were among 120 students from 85 schools who topped 114 HSC courses and were personally congratulated by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at Australian Technology Park at Eveleigh.
Ms Berejiklian described the 120 students as the shining stars of this year’s HSC.
“Today we are celebrating the future,” she said.
“We are not just celebrating academic excellence. We are celebrating resilience, work ethic, discipline and values - all the things that make students stronger.”
Ms Berejiklian noted the diversity of students’ background and geography.
“Each and everyone of you has dug deep and discovered your resilience and grit,” she said.
“Congratulations. We look forward to seeing you achieve more in your lifetimes.”
Among the local students was Cronulla’s Kara Durante of Danebank - An Anglican School for Girls who gained a first in Biology.
She hopes to study Advanced Science at Sydney University and then do a Masters to eventually go into research.
Kara found some common ground in Premier’s citing the roles of resilience and work ethic in achieving academic excellence.
“If you set yourself goals and always keep them in sight it can keep you motivated in your studies,” Kara said.
“I wrote down my goals at the start of the year stating exactly what I wanted to achieve and I would look at them when things got tough to remind myself.”
But she hid her list of goals and told no-one about it.
“No-one else knew about my goals. I didn’t want pressure to live up to them. I don’t do well under pressure. This is why I didn’t tell people. Some people thrive on pressure but I don’t.”
Kara has also won surfing competitions over the last few years and was one of the school’s prefects while she was in Years 11 and 12.
She received the Senior Best All Rounder Sports Woman and the E Roseby Ball memorial prize for school spirit at the school’s recent speech night and school awards ceremony which was held last Wednesday.
Nicole Galhardi achieved a first in course after studying Spanish Extension at the Saturday School of Community Languages at Kogarah High School Centre.
“I’ve been in Australia from Venezuela only two years so it was a really good experience for me to continue my study of language under a different education system.
“To know other languages you you have to know your own very well.”
Nicole, 18, has already written her first novel, World on Fire, in Spanish and is studying Japanese.
She has been accepted into Wollongong University to study Bionanotechnology.
Athanasia Vardakis-Vertzayias achieved a first in course for Modern Greek Continuers after studying at Saturday School of Community Languages at St George Girls High School Centre.
She is planning to study biomedical engineering.
“My Mum, Katia, has rheumatoid arthritis and I’ve grown up seeing her go through 15 operations and I’ve always admired doctors and surgeons.”
Anthanasia said she highlighted incredible support in her studies form her parents, her school and her teachers.
She is also grateful for the discipline and opportunity that the HSC provides.
“I think the HSC taught me skills I will use for the rest of my life,” she said.
“I makes me very sad that there are 21 million children have have no access to education.”
Irene Theodore of Blakehurst High School also achieved first in course in Modern Greek Continuers and hopes to study ancient history and archaeology.
“I wanted to make my parents proud after being in this country only two years,” she said.
“I also wanted to show myself I could do it,” she said.
Benjamin Mason, 17, of Marist College Kogarah was first in the state in Studies of Religion II.
Benjamin said he chose religion because he was intrigued to understand more about what people believed and what motivated them.
“In Studies of Religion 2 it was very interesting to learn more about the other religious traditions that underpin many contemporary issues in this world,” he said.
“We looked at Christianity, Islam and Judaism – the three Abrahamic religions. I found it fascinating to see both the similarities and the diversity within each one.”
“I found the study fairly easy because I worked hard,” he said.
Benjamin wants to do a Bachelor of Speech Pathology, hopefully at the Australian Catholic University.
Results for all 77,000 2017 HSC students will be released by SMS, email and online from 6am tomorrow.
