High School Certified

BY MANAN LUTHRA

For 17- and 18-year-olds, December can bring many emotions: elation over the joys of finishing secondary school, anxiety over the futures, and a sense of catharsis when the dust eventually settles.

We congratulate the High School Certificate Class of 2018 and speak to a few of them about their journey.

What goals did you set at the start of the year, if any? Did they change? Did you achieve them?

Venkatesh (Jishnu) Thangallu: My initial goals were into an engineering field, and to score well so more opportunities are available to me. As the year progressed the field of aeronautical and aerospace engineering allured to me. I believe I have achieved these goals rather well.

Keshav Manaktala: From the beginning of Year 12 my mind was mainly set on studying law at university so I set this as a goal to achieve.

Kiran Gupta: I didn’t really set a huge amount of goals. I prefer to do the best I can and take opportunities as I can. I certainly did not expect to top the state and achieve an ATAR of 99.65 though.

Rohan Bhatia: My goals for the year were to achieve the All-Rounder award, receive a 99.50 ATAR and to ensure the HSC would not impede on my social life. These goals remained consistent throughout the year and I remained determined to achieve them. I ended up receiving the All-Rounder award

VENKATESH (JISHNU) THANGALLU

Hurlstone Agricultural High School

ATAR: 97.25

Subjects: English Standard, Physics, Chemistry, Engineering Studies, Mathematics Extension 1, Mathematics Extension 2

Achievements: All-Rounder’s Honour List and actually achieving the exact ATAR I wanted - 99.50. I remained social and involved in the community with my part-time work, community service and participation in both soccer and tennis twice a week.

Rohan Agrawal: The main goal I had at the beginning of HSC was to get at least 95 for my ATAR, and mainly target a 90+ for the majority of my subjects. I didn’t achieve all of my goals, but I did get an ATAR of 96.05 that allowed me to do my desired degree of commerce and economics as my career goal is investment banking, so overall I was happy that I maintained balance in my social life and still achieved my ultimate goal. Sourish Iyengar: Initially my goal was to achieve a 99 ATAR. Closer to the final HSC exams my target dropped to 98+. Despite