ATAR stars win at Year 12 marathon

South Coast Baptist College boasts two shining ATAR stars, with graduate Manav Kumar winning the Dux award for his year and Justyn Hall named the runner-up.

Manav said Year 12 was “not a sprint — it’s a marathon”.

“I never fully understood what that meant until after I did it. You really need motivation that lasts a really long time otherwise you burn out,” he said.

“Everything is coming at you all the time and even though it takes it out of you, it is worthwhile in the end.”

Justyn said his advice to ambitious students would be to check how you are going throughout Year 12 online, to make sure you are not stressing too much about where you are sitting.

“With ATAR, you can hear these big numbers of 70, 80 and 90, but it is a percentile not a mark, so a lot of people do not check what they need to be getting and it can cause a lot of stress,” he said.

“A lot of the requirements for university are more achievable than it first seems.”

Manav, who will be studying medicine, said human biology was his favourite subject in Year 12.

Justyn will start a course in electrical engineering, after he discovered physics was his favourite subject.

Manav urged students to follow their dreams rather than the advice of others.

“Do what you want to be doing and not what your friends are or what your parents want you to do.

“If you don’t have the passion and the motivation for what you are studying, it is going to be hard to enjoy school or university and to really pull your head in.”

Hard work and dedication also paid off for two other students in Secret Harbour, with Comet Bay College’s students Julia Kara and Mysteque Allese Pepper receiving subject certificates of excellence for Mathematics Applications and Automotive, Engineering and Logistics respectively.