Amy Marie James (Leeming Senior High School), Shannae Carnell (All Saints’ College), Dominique Douglas-Smith and Katherine Enright (both Santa Maria College) were among just 41 WA students awarded General Exhibitions, bestowed upon the State’s elite high school graduates for achieving cohort-leading WACE scores.
None of the quartet said they were expecting the honour, which arrived as a late but very welcome Christmas surprise.
“I was shocked because I thought all of the awards would be announced when the results were published online,” Dominique said.
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READ NOW“I logged on and it said I had a Certificate of Commendation so I thought that was it – I only found out I had been awarded a General Exhibition when one of my specialist teachers messaged me to congratulate me after seeing it in the paper.”
The keen musician, who plays both piano and violin, is now tossing up between applying for a Bachelor of Science and Music at ANU in Canberra or at the ultra-competitive Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
“I’m not entirely sure what I want to do when I graduate but have always liked the idea of being a conductor,” she said.
Schoolmate Katherine, who achieved an ATAR of 99.7, is also considering ANU, as well as University of Melbourne, where she has her eyes set on studying both biomedical science and ancient history.
“My whole life I’ve been fascinated by ancient history, particularly Egypt and Mesopotamia, but also feel drawn to science,” she said.
“I’m keeping my options open – I want to do biomedical science to see if I might then want to go into medicine but I’m also interested in archaeology where science and art meet in the middle.”
With Certificates of Distinction in chemistry, human biological science and politics and law – and an ATAR of 99.85 – it comes as little surprise that Shannae has her sights set on medicine.
“I’m planning on doing a Bachelor of Science at UWA but haven’t decided on my major,” she said.
“I know that I’d like to be a doctor, perhaps specialising in paediatrics.”
Amy’s ATAR of 99.9 should guarantee her a spot at Curtin, where she plans to study engineering.
“I’d like to work as an engineer in mining, oil and gas, possibly focusing on petroleum but not before I take a break to travel around Europe,” she said.