After a self described "very disrupted year", Newstead College student Ned Whiting has celebrated stellar results, being awarded Dux of the school for 2020.
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Mr Whiting said the year presented immense challenges, including transitioning to learning online and then back into the classroom, but was made possible by the support of his teachers, classmates and family.
"We still had the same pressures of exams as normal, it's definitely been more stressful than Year 11 especially because you undertake a bigger workload," he said.
"I found I coped pretty well with it and coming back to school went well, coming back into the classroom really helped because while we were at home I really struggled with motivation.
"Coming back was a big booster, thinking the rest of the year would turn out better than expected."
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And it did - with Mr Whiting receiving an ATAR of 98.95, landing himself in the top 100 students across Tasmania alongside fellow Newstead College student Lauren Spencer.
"Coming out of the exams, there were a couple I thought I could have definitely done better on, but I obviously had enough that went well so my ATAR was a lot higher than I was expecting," he said.
Mr Whiting said he was looking forward to a few months spent sleeping, working and relaxing, with plans to study at the Australian Maritime College next year.
"I'm doing a Bachelor of Applied Science in Marine Engineering," he said.
"I've wanted to do a field of engineering for the last few years because I enjoy working with cars and engines and those sorts of things so I thought it was the natural path.
"Next year I'm being sponsored by Searoad for a cadetship in marine engineering- I was considering either motor or marine so I'm now definitely going with marine engineering."
Assistant Principal Linda Goss said the school was exceptionally proud of the achievements of all of their students.
"They have absolutely pulled out all stops," she said.
"Overall, we've got the same amount of students achieving TCE's and ATAR's so it hasn't negatively impacted on results in the end, but it was fairly tricky there for a while."
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