Vic: Students reflect on final year results

AAP General News (Australia)
12-14-2009
Vic: Students reflect on final year results

By Edwina Scott

MELBOURNE, Dec 14 AAP - On the top floor balcony of a Melbourne hotel, hundreds of
well-dressed teenagers gathered on Monday to munch canapes and celebrate their VCE results.

Giddy with excitement about their futures with university scholarships on the horizon,
the numbers of youngsters in the plush setting represented only a handful of the 48,594
Victorian students in 2009 who earned an Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank (ENTER)
score - a completion rate of 96.9 per cent.

Prestigious Melbourne Grammar recorded one of the best results in its 150-year history,
with new principal Roy Kelley congratulating seven students for their perfect ENTER scores
of 99.95.

Far away in the tiny township of Kaniva, 300 kilometres northwest of Melbourne, Andrea
Carter paused from her job as a checkout cashier to reflect on her enviable ENTER score
of 94.45.

"I only needed a 70, so I wasn't too worried," she laughed.

Andrea, who undertook a variety of subjects including Maths, Studio Arts and Music,
will study primary teaching at Tabor College, an independent Christian college in Adelaide,
before embarking on a career at a country school.

"Coming from a rural area I was more inclined to a smaller college," she said.

Kaniva College's eight other Year 12 students also obtained their certificates.

Principal Tiffany Holt said student numbers at the school had gone down significantly
in recent years as local farms closed their gates due to severe drought in the region.

"It's hard for us because student numbers turn into resources," Ms Holt said.

"But we're still trying to offer as much as we can."

The bonus, Ms Holt says, is that students have access to extra mentoring and very small
class sizes.

"And we spend a lot of time discussing life after school," she added.

In Melbourne, Aboriginal student Samantha Paxton said she intended to accept an equity
scholarship from Monash University.

With a score of 85.65, the Parkdale Secondary College student hopes to study a combined
Bachelor of Arts and Business with a Psychology major, before working in human resource
management.

"It feels good, it's paid off," she beamed.

"It hasn't been the easiest of years, but here we are."

It was a similar story for Christopher Piperidis from Oakleigh Greek Orthodox College
who scored an ENTER of 99.45, with perfect marks in Physics and Business Management.

The 17-year-old maths whiz has been offered an Engineering faculty award to support
him throughout his degree.

"I'd like to manage my own business one day," he said.

But for now, turning 18 next month is a more pressing concern.

"I'll get my P plates so I can drive to uni," he grinned.

Samantha and Christopher were two among hundreds of students who gathered at a city
hotel to celebrate brand-new scholarship offers at Monash University.

The gathering was one of many around the state on Monday.

Students from Mount Waverley Secondary College left behind the controversy of their
muck-up day when some were attacked by a gang of masked men at a park and others allegedly
threw urine-filled bombs at girls from a neighbouring school.

Of Mount Waverley's 298 VCE students, 27 per cent scored 90 or above, and one student
achieved an ENTER of 99.90.

AAP ees/pmu/cjb/cdh

KEYWORD: VCE WRAP (WITH FACTBOX)

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