Vishaak Gangasandra and Brisbane State High School take top honours in 2020 academic achiever awards
Queensland’s best and brightest Year 12 students have been revealed, with one scoring straight As and a single Brisbane school appearing in the list eight times.
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Queensland’s best and brightest Year 12 students of 2020 have finally been celebrated, after the coronavirus pandemic derailed plans for the usual glitzy ceremony.
At the top of the pack was former student of The Southport School Vishaak Gangasandra, who took out the Outstanding Academic Achiever award, along with the $5000 prize.
Mr Gangasandra scored straight As in seven subjects, plus an overall mark of 100 per cent in English, mathematics and physics – the best result of more than 45,000 students from across the state.
And of the 37 students to have won Distinguished Academic Achiever awards, a whopping eight students hailed Brisbane State High School.
Rani Carmichael, who took out the Highest Achievement by an Aboriginal Student or Torres Strait Islander Student award, was also from Brisbane State High School.
Last year’s Year 12 students were the first to tackle the new QCE system and receive an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank rather than an OP.
As well as dealing with the disruptions to their school year from the coronavirus pandemic, the cohort was also the first full Prep cohort and the first Year 7s to attend high school.
Here every winner shares their career goals for the future.
Outstanding Academic Achiever
Vishaak Gangasandra, The Southport School
Career goal: My goal is to become a doctor and blend my passion for healthcare with my interest in business management and technology to boost efficiency in healthcare.
Highest Achievement by an Aboriginal Student or Torres Strait Islander Student
Rani Carmichael, Brisbane State High School
Career goal: I’d like to work in a mixed animal veterinary practice and eventually own my own clinic.
Distinguished Academic Achievers
Ewan Beach, Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics and Technology
Career goal: I would like to pursue a career in the financial sector.
Isaac Beh, Warwick State High School
Career goal: To study mathematics, particularly statistics and analysis, and continue as an academic or find employment in industry.
Declan Cabot, St Joseph’s Nudgee College
Career goal: To become a doctor. I’d like to embrace the diversity the medical field offers before specialising, potentially in emergency medicine.
Matthew Chen, Brisbane Boys’ College
Career goal: To become a software engineer for a big tech company.
Angela Chen, Brisbane State High School
Career goal: To complete my medical degree and work as a doctor. I’d also like to use my skills to continue advocating for gender equality and youth rights.
Matthew Cho, St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace
Career goal:
To combine my love for maths, computing and motorsports and become the chief strategist for a Formula 1 team.
Imeshi Dayaratne, Brisbane State High School
Career goal: I want to work in the medical field, specialising in haematology.
Keyan De Silva, The Rockhampton Grammar School
Career goal: To work as a doctor in regional and rural communities and ultimately become a clinical geneticist.
Reuben Drummond, King’s Christian College
Career goal: To own a product development and consultancy business to help bring people’s ideas to life.
Chen Fan, Hangzhou Dong Fang School
Career goal:
To work in scientific research and develop robots.
Cody (Shaoqing) Fang, Brisbane Boys’ College
Career goal:
To explore the applications of artificial intelligence through work or research.
Declan Fletcher, Anglican Church Grammar School
Career goal: I want to pursue a career in science and technology.
Patrick Gleeson, St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace
Career goal: Ultimately, I want to do research in physics, computer science or mathematics. In the short term I want to explore these fields to get a better idea of what my goals are.
Rishi Goel, Brisbane Grammar School
Career goal: After my degree I hope to complete a PhD in Physics and continue in academic research.
Phoebe Grosser, St Hilda’s School
Career goal: To work in scientific research and expand the frontiers of human knowledge in the physical sciences, ultimately making our lives greener, more equitable and convenient.
Alexandra Hope, Trinity Anglican School
Career goal: I hope to contribute to the medical field, specifically within paediatrics.
Victor Huang, Trinity Anglican School
Career goal: To become a mechanical engineer and develop innovative systems and mechanisms to improve life.
Sohini Kundu, Brisbane State High School
Career goal: To specialise in neurology and to research early diagnosis and prevention methods for degenerative diseases.
Kerrie Liang, Brisbane State High School
Career goal: I hope to study economics and philosophy and potentially attend law school. I’m also interested in ethics research and working towards a PhD.
Joshua Long, St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace
Career goal: It’s my goal to volunteer with charities such as Doctors Without Borders. And to run a marathon.
Lewis Luck, Brisbane Grammar School
Career goal: I’d like to be involved with innovation, research and development in STEM.
Jennifer Mai, Brisbane State High School
Career goal: To strive for excellence in my studies so I am well-equipped with knowledge and skills to contribute to the community.
Quoc Hung Nguyen, Pine Rivers State High School
Career goal: To study medicine and make a contribution to Australia while upholding the Vietnamese values and traditions my grandma has taught me.
Lucy Ochre, Brisbane State High School
Career goal: To do what makes me happy and have a job that I really love.
Emily Price, Townsville Grammar School
Career goal: To use my chemical engineering degree to have a fulfilling career developing new and sustainable technology to create a better future.
Lucia Rega, All Hallows’ School
Career goal: My goal is to become a mechatronic engineer and make a positive contribution to society through technological and engineering solutions.
Cooper Rennie, Springfield Central State High School
Career goal: To become an anaesthetist.
Georgina Rutland, Kenmore State High School
Career goal: To become a lawyer.
Matina Samios, Brisbane Girls Grammar School
Career goal: To have a career in medicine and explore ways to improve modern medicine through technological implementation.
Kento Seki, All Saints Anglican School
Career goal: Broadly speaking, my goal is to keep growing. I want to experience everything and keep broadening my horizons.
Ryo Takamizawa, All Saints Anglican School
Career goal: To work at the edge of modern medicine at a large hospital.
Khoa-Anh Tran, Brisbane State High School
Career goal: I would love to devote my time to the field of medicine and medical research.
Georgy Ushakov, Unity College
Career goal: Become an engineer and hopefully work on some very cool projects.
Chethin Weerakkody, Brisbane State High School
Career goal: I hope to specialise in artificial intelligence and machine learning and ultimately develop a world-changing invention.
Rachel Yang, Somerville House
Career goal: I would love to be a doctor specialising in surgery.
Yang Zhang, St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace
Career goal: To innovate at the forefront of my chosen field.
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