A Caringbah High School student has proven the world is his oyster after taking out top honours in the Australian Geography Competition.
Year 11 student Brendan Tate came equal first in the competition, after going up against 73,500 students from 792 schools across Australia.
Caringbah High is a selective school and a number of its students performed at an exceptional level in the competition this year, according to senior geography co-ordinator Ian McRae.
He said another year 11 student Elita So finished in the top 1 per cent of the competition.
Mr McRae described Brendan's equal first place as an "outstanding achievement when you consider the number of students who competed from all over the country".
Brendan said geography was an important subject, especially in today's world.
"Geography opens our eyes to worldwide issues such as climate change. It teaches us to be global citizens and I can't think of anything more important," he said.
Brendan and Elita are among just 16 students from across Australia who have been invited to take part in the Geography Big Week Out at Kangaroo Island this month. The six-day event focuses on fieldwork, spatial technologies and analytical skills.
From there, four students will be chosen to represent Australia at the 2020 International Geography Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.
Mr McRae said geography was a vital subject because it explored socio-economic and environmental issues at local, national and international levels - something of particular importance during current times.
The Australian Geography Competition is open to Australian secondary school students to assess their geographical knowledge and skills with the aim of encouraging interest in geography and to reward excellence.
