At the conclusion of a challenging and turbulent HSC year, two students from St Patrick’s College were awarded First in Course awards, placing them at the top of the State in their subject. Their achievement was celebrated on the front page of the Daily Telegraph.
Zara O’Mahony earned her First in Course Award for the VET Construction course, studied at the College under Construction teacher Scott Trudgeon.
Taylah Pye earned her First in Course Award for the VET Tourism, Travel and Events course at Loftus TAFE.
The girls are good friends and often worked together. Taylah commented that this helped her to keep up her motivation. “Throughout my HSC studies, I knew that the only way to succeed was with the balance of social life and school because I know that if I’m happier and continue to do the activities I love, I will maintain motivation and apply myself more thoroughly to my studies. One way I did this was by hanging out with Zara. I think it helped us both to work hard and take breaks with each other, crazy how we ended up achieving so highly together. I am very proud of her.”
Zara agrees “During my HSC year I quickly realised the key to success was enthusiasm and love for your subjects, which was easily achieved through the delicate balance of hard work and fun. I found this balance naturally formed after building healthy relationships with peers and staff to assist each other work through difficult tasks and help enjoy class learning.”
Both students achieved excellent results across all of their subjects and are looking forward to future study, Taylah at Sydney University studying a Bachelor of Architecture and Environments and Zara at University of NSW studying a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours).