Ben Fitzgerald and Cassandra Larobina scored highest possible 2017 SACE results

ONE of the state’s top Year 12 graduates put off checking his results until after a trip to the dentist, while his school anxiously waited to see how he’d done.

Year 12 Governor of SA Commendation recipients Ben Fitzgerald and Cassandra Larobina at Victoria Park. Picture: Calum Robertson

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IT’S a good thing Ben Fitzgerald and Cassandra Larobina didn’t procrastinate in their Year 12 studies as much as they did when it came to checking their results.

St Michael’s College graduate Ben, 17, woke at 8.30am, when results were officially released, then lay in bed another hour before his school called to see how he’d done.

But not until after a trip to the dentist did he finally go online to find his stellar score of five subject merits and the highest possible uni admissions rank of 99.95.

“I was very, very shocked. I thought something must be wrong. I was definitely not expecting that,” he said.

Six-merit and 99.95 scorer Cassandra, 18, from St Ignatius’ College, slept in and didn’t look at her results until her dad woke her to say her school had called.

“I was too nervous so I made (my parents) go in another room. I thought it was a typo. I was in shock. I thought ‘surely not’!” she said.

The pair were among four students to achieve perfect results by the SACE Board’s criteria of five merits, including the research project subject.

Both are planning gap years, after which Cassandra wants to pursue medicine and Ben maths, science or engineering.

A total of 28 students received Governor of South Australia Commendations for excellence in the SACE, many combining study with a wide range of volunteering and extra-curricular pursuits. Half of them gathered in Victoria Park on Tuesday.

Ben thanked his teachers, family and mates for “putting up with a lot” through the year, including “friends answering questions at 2am”.