Results are in – meet the South-East students who aced their SACE in 2023
With their final year of school behind them, meet the year 12s from the Limestone Coast who topped their schools for their ATAR.
Mount Gambier
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The wait is finally over for year 12 students across the state who received their final SACE results Monday.
Despite the many stressors and pressures of year 12, students across the Limestone Coast rose to the occasion and achieved some amazing results.
Here are the star students from the South-East who aced their SACE and topped their schools in 2023.
Ruby Wallace – Grant High School
Ruby Wallace from Grant High School received the highest ATAR among all students across the South-East with her impressive raw ATAR score of 98.50.
She also received a prestigious Governor of South Australia Commendation – Excellence Award. This commendation was one of 40 awarded to high-achieving South Australian students.
Ruby’s award commends her deep understanding and command of language, her impressive research project that focused on the effectiveness of prisons in rehabilitation and reducing recidivism, her association with AC Care and her commitment to sustainability predominantly through her interest in upcycling fashion.
Alongside her SACE, Ruby has also already completed two university courses.
Ruby said she would remember her year 12 journey at Grant High School as a “really fun experience with lots of amazing personal memories as well as academic ones”.
She’s planning on having a gap year in 2024 before moving to Adelaide to study psychology at Flinders University in 2025.
Six other students at Grant High School – Zeb Chant, Lily Delaland, Abbey Hood, Amie, Riley Morgan and Lachlan Johnston, also achieved ATARs of 90 or above.
Sophie Wrightson – Tenison Woods College
Tenison Woods College’s Sophie Wrightson was right on Ruby’s heels with an amazing ATAR score of 98.30.
“I put a lot of work in last year as well as this year,” Sophie said. “I did a couple of Stage 2 classes in year 11 which helped (with my score).”
Sophie will be taking a gap year in 2024 and working in the laboratory at Wynn’s Winery.
In 2025, she will attend University of Adelaide to study Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering.
As well as Sophie, Tenison Woods College had an impressive 16 students achieve an ATAR above 90. The second and third highest achieving students were Aden Clarke (96.00) and Lydia Nashed (95.65).
Jack Unger – St Martins Lutheran College
Jack Unger topped his cohort at St Martins Lutheran College, receiving an impressive 93.10 ATAR for his efforts in Mathematical Methods, Specialist maths, Physics and Robotics and Electronic Systems.
Coming from Naracoorte, Jack had to juggle his studies with a daily two-and-a-half-hour commute on the school bus, alongside working two jobs.
Jack said he balanced the demanding load by doing “as much work as I could at school [which] minimised the amount of homework I had, allowing me to work (outside of school).”
“It was a fun year,” Jack said reflecting on year 12.
“I enjoyed the learning aspect of it, I enjoyed learning new things.”
Jack intends to continued to work in Naracoorte full-time until 2025 when he plans to pursue a Bachelor of IT, specialising in cyber security.
Jack wasn’t the only country student at St Martins to ace their SACE results this year.
Four of the six highest ATARs recorded at St Martins this year were achieved by students from Naracoorte and Lucindale.
Bryce Thornhill (91.20, Lucindale), David Dai (89.00, Naracoorte) and Hugh Davenport (87.10, Naracoorte), as well as Bridie McPherson (88.15, Mount Gambier) and College Captain Isabella Lawrie (93.05, Mount Gambier), joined Jack as St Martins highest achievers in 2023.
Mount Gambier High School
Mount Gambier High School’s dux Amber Thompson attained an admirable ATAR of 95.25.
She was closely followed by Alice Tentye (90.70) and Zarly Jones (86.50).
Olivia Dean – Millicent High School
Olivia Dean from Millicent High School was her school’s top scorer with an ATAR 85.15.
Throughout year 12, she studied maths, English, biology, psychology and her completed her research project.
While majority of her final year was “pretty smooth sailing”, Olivia said the biology exam was a big challenge.
Despite the difficulty, Olivia rose to challenge and said she feels very proud of her results.
She plans to study a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy at the Flinders University campus in Mount Gambier starting next year.
Olivia Berkin – Penola High School
Penola High School’s highest ATAR receiver was Olivia Berkin, who topped her cohort with score of 79.60.
She completed English, outdoor education, physical education, biology and her research project, maintaining Bs and As throughout the year.
Olivia said she struggled with her biology exam but overall was happy with all her results.
She plans to spend six months of next year working locally and doing vintage, and hopes to travel in the second half of the year.
She plans to go university eventually, but is unsure what she wants to study.
Emily Koenig was Penola High School’s Year 12 Dux student based on the school assessed component of her grades.
She finished off the year with 2 As and high Bs across her subjects which included her research project, child studies, English, food and hospitality and health and wellbeing.
Zach Pope – Naracoorte High School
Zach Pope received the highest ATAR for the Naracoorte High School class of 2023 with a score of 95.65. He was also Naracoorte High School’s Dux of Year 12.
Zach is taking a gap year in 2024 and working at the Naracoorte Caves. Following his gap year, he is hoping to study a Bachelor of Science (Biodiversity and Conservation) at Flinders University, starting in 2025.
Maddie Wirth – Kingston Community School
Kingston Community School’s Maddie Wirth is also one of the region’s highest achievers, receiving an ATAR of 98.15.
Along with her amazing SACE results, Maddie received Governor of South Australia Commendation – Excellence Award, and was also the recipient of the 2023 Robe District Council Young citizen of the Year Award to honour her community involvement and spirit.
She is looking at heading to university to study teaching.
Kingston Community School had two other students receive ATARs above 90 with Sheba Miller scoring a 93.4 and Bonnie Clarke receiving a 90.15.
Sheba is keento study at university to become a paramedic and Bonnie will be going on to study a Bachelor of Science in biodiversity and conservation.
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