Year 12 student won dux despite being locked out of NSW for two years

Year 12 student Colleen Gao topped her year despite not setting foot in a classroom for two years thanks to border restrictions. Here’s how she beat the odds.

Colleen Gao, is completing her HSC, and topped her year despite being unable to return to school from China for two years during the Covid pandemic. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Colleen Gao was locked out of the country for two years because of Covid, unable to return to her Sydney school.

But despite the stress of learning, and sitting tests, 7876km away in Shanghai, the now 18-year-old has been named dux of Burwood Girls High School.

Colleen is an international student at the public school in Sydney’s inner west but was on holidays in China when Covid travel restrictions closed down international travel.

So from February 2020 she was forced to study remotely, from her grandmother’s apartment.

“I was so confused and stressed, I didn’t know what was going on,” she said.

“For Term 1, when everyone was studying online, it was okay. But by Term 2, I realised I’d have to do online learning (by myself).”

Yr 12 student Colleen Gao woke up at 5:30 am every school day in Shanghai, China to prepare for her online classes at Burwood Girls High School in Sydney. Picture: Supplied

An arrangement that was only meant to be temporary, ended up lasting for two years as Colleen would wake up at 5:30am to prepare for the different time zone at Burwood Girls High School.

“I was really glad my school could offer me online lessons while I was stuck in China,” she said.

Colleen was unable to return to school from China for two years during the Covid pandemic. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“The science teachers ‘zoomed’ me on an iPad so that I could see the class. My other teachers provided the work on Google classroom and I asked my classmates about the assigned work.”

Like many students who had and still have to learn remotely, Colleen said challenges with the internet could be frustrating: “When the internet was poor, I could not hear or see anything.”

When asked how she managed to remain motivated throughout the two school years she said “There was pressure that other people who could be in person in class were more efficient so (I put) more pressure (on myself) to keep up with them.

“From all the help, support and the online lessons offered by my school, I wanted to keep my marks goods to show them that it works,” she said.

Colleen is now back in NSW. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

And it did. Towards the end of the long two years of remote learning, Coleen completed her two maths subjects for the HSC last year – while still in Year 11 – in Shanghai. She did the exams in an Australian government office.

“It was on the 40th floor – very nice view! I had one other boy there, who was doing his whole HSC.”

While Colleen completed Maths Extension 1 and Extension 2 last year – before returning to Australia in December – she will complete English as an additional language, Biology and Chemistry for this year’s HSC in the coming weeks.

Despite the challenges, she topped her year as dux.

Colleen with her mum Yan Kong in Sydney. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

But she has already been honoured as dux of her year, as most schools calculate who the dux is based on subject rankings and the results of all the assessment tasks to date in Year 12.

“Being away from people for was the most challenging for me. I’m quite an introvert so I didn’t reach out to them. We’d only talk if we had some work to do,” Colleen said.

She hopes to study a health science at uni next year – medicine “if I’m lucky”,