Plaudits from the Premier
TEN Jewish students have been named top of their class at Victoria's VCE Premier’s Awards held last week.
TEN Jewish students have been named top of their class at Victoria’s VCE Premier’s Awards held last week.
Presented by Premier Ted Baillieu at the Melbourne Convention Centre, the graduates and two current VCE students from Beth Rivkah Ladies College, Bialik College, Mount Scopus Memorial College and The King David School were singled out among their peers.
Baillieu said the day was a “celebration of the truly exceptional effort made by students who excelled in their VCE last year through a combination of commitment, passion, talent and plain hard work”.
Among the 20 top all-round VCE achievers were three Jewish students: Bialik graduates Dean Hayden and Joshua Monester (pictured with Baillieu) and King David School graduate Bryan Ladowsky.
All three were among 20 Victorians who earned perfect VCE scores.
Ladowsky is currently on a five-month Israel program and plans to begin a double degree in science and law at Monash University in 2012.
His secret to success, he said, was to break his piles of schoolwork into smaller tasks and to take inspiration from influential academics.
Bialik recipient Hayden said ugg boots, biscuits and a cup of tea helped him through VCE. His schoolmate and fellow high achiever, Monester, said he took Saturday nights off his studies to catch up with friends.
Bialik’s Simone Kipen and Benjamin Needleman, received individual subject awards for religion and society and English respectively.
“These awards continue a Bialik tradition of consistently high VCE achievement,” Bialik principal Joseph Gerassi said. “They are attained by a strong partnership between our students, their teachers and their families.”
Both Beth Rivkah and Mount Scopus also had top achievers in individual subjects.
Beth Rivkah’s Chaya Groner was one of the top history students, while Mount Scopus’s Jacqui Bell (English), Tamara Cherny (religion and society), Brandon Friedman (health and human development) and Natalie Sher (further mathematics) were recognised for being at the top of their game.
Sher and Friedman’s achievements stood out, having been earned while in Year 11.
“These outstanding results are a fitting tribute to the efforts and ability of the students and the dedication and expertise of their teachers,” Mount Scopus principal Rabbi James Kennard said.
Leibler Yavneh College students did not receive any Premier’s Awards however graduate Daniel Wein was awarded an Australian Student Prize, as was King David School’s Ladowsky.
comments