A FLOOD emergency did not stop Murrabit resident Amariah Bangay completing her final year of school and being named the Kerang Christian College dux.
During 2022, Amariah studied unit 3/4 subjects English, mathematical methods, biology, psychology, and health and human development.
Along with her food studies marks in Year 11, her marks saw her achieve the highest ATAR score among her cohorts.
“It’s an exemplary achievement,” head of secondary school Michelle Cafe said.
“It is just in her nature to do her best in everything she applies herself to.”
Mrs Cafe said Amariah did not work for accolades.
“She is so humble and gracious; I know she would have been so excited if any of her fellow students had been named dux instead,” she said.
Along with Amariah, nine other students completed their VCE at the college this year.
With an overall median VCE study score of 33, Mrs Cafe said she and principal Wayne Barker were impressed with all the unit 3/4 results.
“Our students should be incredibly happy with their scores,” she said.
Mr Barker said he was very pleased with the way the Year 12 students had handled the past few years of COVID-19 and floods.
“We’ve had a massive upheaval to school life over the past three years,” he said.
“And I think our kids have done an amazing job to manage what has been an incredible disruption to their learning.”
Mr Barker acknowledged that while the school year had now finished, a number of local students were still being impacted by the ongoing flooding.
“For some of our families, the flooding still continues, and our prayers go out to them,” he said.
Mr Barker said while Amariah was academically gifted, it was her character that he admired most.
“Her ability to empathise and get right beside people is a wonderful example of her character,” he said.
“Amariah is an amazing example of Christian faith lived out in real life and that has impacted everything she has done, including her approach to studies and her ability to cope with all the external factors that have affected her over the past three years.”
Amariah will head to New Zealand next year to study at the Capernwray Bible School.
