Tara Murray
A pandemic and below par facilities weren’t going to stop the class 2021 at Victoria University Secondary College.
Despite all the obstacles in front of them, the students excelled and produced some of the best results the school has seen.
Principal Elaine Hazim said the results were massive for the school. There were five students who had ATARs in the 90s.
“It’s an improvement from 2020,” she said.
“We’ve never had students get 50 [perfect subject scores] before. We’d had ATARs in the low 90s before, but never the high 90s.
“This year was a significant improvement.”
Zoe was awarded the school dux after receiving an ATAR OF 98.5. She’s going to study a double major in English and theatre studies.
Beazley was left stunned by the mark.
“I predicted in the low 90s, so when I got the result I was really confused. I was happy.
“It was a difficult couple of years and I thought my mark would have been lower. I was demotivated for a lot of the year.
“I did my best and picked up at the end of the year I guess.”
Yan Rustambekov thought his chances of a high ATAR score were blown after his first two exams. He was in for a shock when he scored 92.5.
“To be fair, after the first couple of exams I was expecting a score in the low 80s, high 70s,” he said.
“So to get 92, I was shocked. I was originally hoping for 95 or something high, but after the first two exams I was like whatever happens, I’ll be happy with whatever I got.”
Rustambekov said he watched a lot of revision tutorials on YouTube and notes from teachers to get the work in before exams.
He is going to study nursing at Swinburne, which he hopes will help him get permanent residency.
Like her classmates, Cindy Tran was shocked by her score of 93.6.
“It’s exciting, I was never really expecting to get above 80,” she said.
“When I first saw the results I was really shocked and overall really happy.”
She said having to study at home for the most part of her VCE was a challenge. She is studying biomedicine at Melbourne University.
Leading teacher Christopher Tray said the results have brought a lot of enjoyment and confidence to the whole school community.
Mr Tray taught extended investigation, a subject in which two students got perfect scores.
“The incoming cohort are like wow that’s so impressive,” he said.
“That it is possible to achieve and aspire to great things.
“We’re aiming to keep those strong relationships with the students coming back and speaking to classes.
“It’s exciting to see them success and have different options. A big congratulations to all the students.”
