Lena Schulz said striking a balance between studying and pursuing her passion for horse riding was key to her Year 12 studies – with her astounding results being recognised in the Premier’s VCE awards.
The former student who completed Year 12 at Berwick’s Nossal High School in 2019 was one of 28 students in the state to take out the top all-round VCE high achiever award – which recognises students who have achieved study scores of 46 or higher out of 50 in at least five VCE studies.
Lena, who is now studying a double degree in law and global studies at Monash University, said she never expected to be on the Premier’s list.
“I didn’t even realise; I was a bit surprised” the 18-year-old said, after attaining an ATAR score of 99.75.
“That’s the struggle with Year 12, you never really know where you’re sitting and you’re slowly working away and then suddenly you get this score and you’re like ‘oh my god’ it actually paid off.”
But she contends: “Not going to lie, definitely put in the hours.”
Lena achieved a study score of 49 in further mathematics; 47 in business management, and 45 in English. In Year 11, she also achieved 49 in legal studies and 47 in German.
Her remarkable feat was recognised on Wednesday 29 April when the recipients were announced, however, a ceremony has been postponed for 2020 due to coronavirus.
Lena said she was inspired by her older sister who also attained the same ATAR score, adding it was a balance of study and recreation that helped her achieve her results – with regular horse riding sessions at Balmoral Equestrian Centre in Narre Warren North.
“I would make the most of my day at school and then after school try to do half an hour or an hour after and still go horse riding,” she said.
Now studying at uni, Lena said adjusting to remote learning had been challenging as she missed the social interaction and one-to-one teaching aspects – but noted she was lucky to have a “nice quiet learning area” at home.
