Best in class: Northern Territory’s Top 20 students excel in COVID-19 hit school year
MORE than 1600 students from the Class of 2020 have celebrated receiving their NTCET certificates, after one of the strangest years in recent memory. SEE THE LIST of the NT’s TOP 20 STUDENTS
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- Territory’s top NTCET students revealed secrets to their success
- NTCET exams get underway for Year 12s across the Territory
MORE than 1600 students from the Class of 2020 have celebrated receiving their NTCET certificates, after one of the strangest years in recent memory.
Top scorer Laura Chapman from Darwin High School received an ATAR of 99.85 and said a key to her successful year was following in the footsteps of her older brother.
“My older brother who did Year 12 two years ago, I think he was a good example of how not to stress,” she said.
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Planning to study occupational therapy in Sydney, she said she was glad the coronavirus pandemic didn’t affect student life too much in the NT.
“We were pretty lucky that up here, we didn’t miss any school due to the pandemic so I found it OK,” she said.
“I think it would have been a lot harder (studying from home) to motivate myself.”
For Casuarina Senior College Student Tan Thanh Thai, finding a motivation was the key to get through the extraordinary year.
“It was important to have a good motivator … for me it was a rivalry with a friend. I came out on top – I say hard work triumphs intelligence,” he said.
“I’m planning to do a Bachelor of Science and Engineering, either here or in Adelaide but anything within that STEM field really.”
Darwin High School’s Ben Kievit is another with his sights set outside of the Territory, hoping to pursue a law and commerce degree in Melbourne.
“I got the results I needed for university so I’m happy with that,” he said.
“They don’t actually have that degree (that I want) in the Northern Territory so I have to move away which is a shame but I’m looking forward to new things interstate.”
But Education Minister Lauren Moss said she wasn’t concerned by the amount leaving, hoping they would return to the NT once they had completed their tertiary studies.
“I think we have a fabulous local university at Charles Darwin and I think we have incredible opportunities for Year 12 students to shine in some of our key industries,” she said.
“I hope that as many students as possible stay here.”
Eight students from Yirrkala also graduated while four received an ATAR, some of the first ever from the East Arnhem Community, while 19 students graduated from the Henbury school, up from seven last year.
Top Aboriginal student Georgia Kyranis, from Darwin High School, recorded an ATAR of
96.30 and a university aggregate of 82.45.
A total of 49 A+ Merits were obtained by 41 students from 11 Territory schools, including one student who took Arrernte Language studies.
The Top 21 completers came from six NT schools, 11 of which were from Darwin High School.
Four students in the Top 20 hailed from the Essington School, while Casuarina Senior College and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic College each had two students.
O’Loughlin Catholic College and St Phillip’s College each had one.
Education Minister Lauren Moss said 2020 had been a challenging year but Territory kids worked hard to get through the year.
“Having 1610 students receive an NTCET, and 40 additional Aboriginal students on last year’s results complete their NTCET is an indication of the amount of hard work our students have put in,” Ms Moss said.
“It is also a testament to the efforts of our quality teachers and support staff who have worked tirelessly to assist our Year 12 students to achieve these outstanding results.”
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OUR HIGHEST SCORING STUDENTS:
• Laura Chapman - Darwin High School
• Omar Mir - The Essington School
• Andrew Savvas - Darwin High School
• Benjamin Kievit - Darwin High School
• Hannah Kwon - Darwin High School
• Mia Hardcastle - The Essington School
• Kieran Lelis - St Phillip’s College
• Otto Blum - Darwin High School
• Nuhansi Wijesinghe - Darwin High School
• Ziyu Qin - Darwin High School
• Jarrod Li-Hunnam - Darwin High School
• Atish Ajaykumar - Darwin High School
• Basil Tom - The Essington School
• Tan Thanh Thai - Casuarina Senior College
• Tjina Stoll - Casuarina Senior College
• Hannah Evans - Darwin High School
• Jack Van Der Geest Hester - OLSH Catholic College
• Shaun Thomas - Darwin High School
• Kayley Palmer - The Essington School
• Shawn Bett - OLSH Catholic College
• Tara Innes - O’Loughlin Catholic College
* The 2020 Top 20 student’s list features 21 students as the 20th position was filled by two
students with the exact same ATAR
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