FOURTEEN Tenison Woods College students achieved an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank above 90 with Year 12 graduate Courtney De Barro taking home the college dux prize with a score of 98.70.
When Courtney looked at her results in the early hours of yesterday morning, she could not believe the score.
“When I saw my score, I did not think it was real,” she said.
“I was home alone so I did a bit of a happy dance and rang to see whether the score was correct.
“When I was told I was the dux of the school I thought it was a joke.”
Courtney will go straight to university in 2019 to study a double bachelor degree of exercise and sports science and psychological science.
“I want to be a police officer, so I thought this degree would help,” she said.
“It also has a sport side, so it will keep my options open if I change my mind.
“As I live in Keith, I would like to thank Pam and Madi Breese for hosting my homestay over the past two years and for being an integral part of my success.”
Courtney also thanked her teachers for their support after giving her “every opportunity to succeed”.
Rounding out the top five ATAR schools at TWC were James Gazzard (98.40), TWC school captain Evangelia Wichmann (97.75), Caitlyn Poel (97.70) and Eliza Gordon (97.00).
A further 23 students received an ATAR greater than 80.
Seven students achieved merits throughout Year 12 subjects, including Courtney De Barro (English), Year 11 student Laura Cesario (English), James Gazzard (English), Caitlyn Poel (English), Sophie Donaldson (visual arts), Year 11 student Chloe Futcher (biology) and Evangelia Wichmann (integrated learning – religion).
Four students attained straight A results in their subjects, including Courtney De Barro, Sarah Caldow, Eliza Gordon and Baie Perryman.
Year 11 student Ben Langford completed both stage one and two of his South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) in one year and successfully obtained a position at the James Morrison Academy of Music for 2019.
Year 10 student Amelie Beltakis achieved an A result in Year 12 ancient studies.
Tenison Woods College principal David Mezinec is proud of the 2019 Year 12 cohort for their “outstanding” achievements.
“I am very pleased with the range of results and the personal bests involved throughout the cohort,” Mr Mezinec said.
“They are outstanding results and I am very pleased they were obtained by a group of students that are very well-rounded.
“I am delighted to find that 16pc of our students were in the top 10pc of the state and 40pc of our students were in the top 20pc of the state.”
Mr Mezinec reminded students who may not have achieved the ATAR scores they expected there were other paths to their preferred tertiary study options.
“It is important students do not become too disheartened,” he said.
“Remember the tertiary and higher education learning environment enables multiple entry points, articulations and pathways to achieve a final qualification goal.”
