Zoe Moffatt
VCE results are in and Edward Clough has duxed Braemar College with a 99.40 ATAR, followed by Julia Smith with a 99.25.
Year 12 students across the state awoke nervously on Monday morning to see their ATAR results. It was the first year returning to many pre-COVID traditions, and for Braemar students, it was an important part of their experience.
Edward said getting to experience those traditions and events was special, and made the stressful year a time to remember.
“It was stressful at times, but it was probably the most fun year I had at school,” he said.
Looking back on the year and his score, Edward said it feels amazing and his ATAR is better than he ever could have expected.
“If I’m being honest I wasn’t too worried… I felt good coming out of most of my exams. [I studied] english, maths methods, specialist maths, physics, chemistry and last year I did software development.”
Edward said he is thinking of studying engineering at university and his advice to anyone going into year 12 would be to “enjoy it, try hard and work hard but make sure you have fun.
“Do subjects you enjoy as well,” he added.
Julia was the school’s dux proximus and said she is hoping to study medicine next year but is keeping her options open to different universities around the country.
“I’m feeling pretty good, I was shocked and surprised, my results were a bit different to what I was expecting,” she said.
“It’s a nice weight off my shoulders… it feels like a long time coming, it was quite a relief to be done. I feel really ready for the change and excited to have more independence.”
Julia studied drama, English literature, chemistry, maths methods, French, and biology last year, which she said inspired her to pursue medicine.
She said her advice to any current year 11’s is to have faith in the work they have done.
“You can actually get any score you want… if you want to get a score there’s no barriers…. It can all just be so random in the end,” she said.
