Geelong High School students Mason Blyth and Lykeira Shannon led the class of 2022 this year, not only as school captains, but also in terms of ATAR results.
Mason was Geelong High School’s Dux with an ATAR of 99.65, while Lykeira had the school’s second-best result of 98.90.
Mason said he had not expected to get such a good result.
“I set myself a target at the start of Year 11; I really wanted to get a 99, but I didn’t expect to get so high in the 99s,” he said.
“I’m just really happy with how I went and that my efforts paid off in the end.
“I was at home with my mum when I got the results, and I think she was more excited than I was.”
Mason completed English, Chemistry, Legal Studies, Physics and Further Maths.
Along with his role on the school council as school captain, Mason was involved with a range of sports, including swimming, athletics, cross country, football and cricket.
Mason said while he wasn’t exactly sure what tertiary studies he wanted to pursue he was relieved his high ATAR would allow him to choose his own path.
“I’m looking to go to university to study physics, engineering, or maybe a law degree,” he said.
“It’s great, I have a lot of options open to me. It means I can pursue a career that I really want to do.”
Lykeira was similarly surprised with her results, having studied English, Psychology, Theatre Studies, Health and Human Development and Music Investigation.
“I was definitely shocked as well, as I did a lot of subjects that scaled down,” she said.
“People are usually discouraged from doing those subjects because of that, so to get the score I did with those subjects, I’m really happy.”
Lykeira said despite the lack of pressure from her parents, she had wanted to be alone when she got her results.
“I wanted to open it on my own, just so I could process everything that was going on, but straight after I saw my score I went down to my mum and told her,” she said.
“Honestly, she would have been happy with any score that I got, so she was just happy that I was happy.”
As a counterpoint to her studies, Lykeira performed the lead role of Miss Adelaide in the school’s production this year, Guys and Dolls.
But Lykeira said theatre would most likely remain a passion separate to her career, as she really wanted to become a teacher.
“I’m hoping that next year I can do psychology at Melbourne Uni, then do a master’s in secondary school teaching,” she said.
“No matter my ATAR, I was always going to go into teaching, because all my teachers have made such a difference in my life, so I hope I can do the same for others.”
