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Congratulations to all Year 12 students listed below who have achieved excellence in a range of special categories.
Academic Dux - Corey Plowman
Corey Plowman began studying at SIDE in 2013 after being home schooled for a number of years while travelling with his family around Australia.
Settling in Hopetoun in the Great Southern region of WA, Corey has since excelled in all his ATAR courses, also winning the SIDE Year 12 awards for Physics and Automotive Engineering. An attribute consistently mentioned by all of Corey’s teachers is that he is an exceptional independent learner. Corey says the SIDE style of teaching and learning suited him well, and that he has enjoyed being “self-driven, to study whenever I want, for as long as I want”. Further to this, Corey’s teachers say that he has been very well organised, completed all set tasks on time and sought support as well as feedback when necessary, always applying it to improve his understandings, knowledge and skills. Added to this mix, a constant striving for excellence has contributed to his achievement of Academic Dux of SIDE for 2015.
Outside his studies, Corey has a variety of interests including playing the piano and a love of nature. He also has a passion for astronomy which, coupled with the ATAR courses he studied in Maths and the Sciences, have led him to set his sights on studying Astrophysics at Curtin University in 2016. Corey acknowledges that home schooling prepared him well for SIDE and that despite some initial doubts, he says that the support and availability of his teachers have been “really impressive” at SIDE. He is genuinely appreciative of this and, in turn, we congratulate Corey on his tremendous achievement and wish him the best for his future studies.
Vocational Dux - Christia Tagalag
Christia has been a quietly high achiever. She has completed two full Certificate II qualifications in Financial Services and Creative Industries: Media. Christia is an enthusiastic, well organised and hard-working student, who is independent and autonomous but always willingly asks for assistance if required. Christia has been persistent in her studies in both certificates. Despite English being a second language, Christia has been an effective communicator with teachers and displayed all the qualities that reflect a model SIDE student. The VET Dux achievement is a fitting reward for Christia’s exceptional effort and we wish her all the best for continued success in the future.
Earlier this year Christia visited SIDE and Central Institute of Technology and immediately impressed the head lecturer in the Creative Learning Industry. During her visit she demonstrated technical skills in one of the mobile editing booths and received hands-on industry experience which enriched her course experience. This resulted in plans to extend her Media learning in 2016 by completing a Certificate III.
