Isabel Gahan and Charles Gay received the highest honors across the region with Isabel receiving an ATAR score of 98.95 and Charles, who received the second highest also came in third across the state for Senior Science.

Out of the 91 students in Young who completed their HSC this year there were a total of 21 high scores across the town.

Neither school made it into the top 150 schools across the state unfortunately, however that didn’t mean that both Young High School and Hennessy Catholic College didn’t both attain outstanding results across the board.

Young High School’s Ashleigh Bennett received a Distinguished Achiever acknowledgement which meant the local horse enthusiast scored 90 or above in Music 1.

Hennessy Catholic College had a total of 10 students who made it in the Distingushed Achiever categories with two ranking within the top ten of the state for different subjects.

Charles Gay ranked third in the entirety of NSW in Senior Science as well as achieving distinguished nods in English (standard), Mathematics General 2, Personal Development, Health and Physical Education and Senior Science.

Isabel Gahan came in 8th out of the entire state in History Extension also receiving a distinguished nod and scoring 90 or more in Ancient History, English (Advanced), English Extension 1, Modern History, History Extension and Studies of Religion 1.

Bonnie King scored 90 or more in Community and Family Studies as did Emma Kelly who also scored just as high in Personal Development, Health and Physical Education.

Emma Smith earned herself a Distinguished Achiever nod in English (Advanced), Legal Studies and Personal Development, Health and Physical Education. Hannah Madden scored 90 or more in Legal Studies as did Emma Hibbert in her Hospitality Examination. Lily Corkhill earned a nod in Visual Arts, Madison Ryan in Studies of Religion 1 and Patrick King in Mathematics General 2.

Both Young High School principal Keith Duran and Hennessy Catholic College principal Trazel Scott said they were proud of the students academic performance and the high scores they achieved.

Young High School principal Keith Duran said he was happy with how well his students had done in the exams. 

“I am satisfied with our 2017 student performance in the HSC,” he said.

According to Mr Duran many of the Young High School students performed in line with his expectations.

“Some of our students individual results are quite pleasing. We have had strong cohort performance in Music including student placement on the Distinguished Achievers list as well as strong performance in VET frameworks including Hospitality and Retail services.”

Mr Duran was also very pleased with the results in other areas as well. 

“Our students have performed soundly in Geography, Business Studies and Construction and we are pleased that just under 30 percent of our student cohort have already been offered university placements through the early entry scheme.”

Hennessy Catholic College principal Trazel Scott was equally excited for her students results and where they will be in the future.

“Many of our students have already been offered a place at a university before the results came out,” she said. 

“A number have already obtained an apprenticeship and others will be pursue vocational pathways in the future.” 

Hennessy Catholic College held their annual ATAR gathering at the school on Friday giving the students the opportunity to share their results and thank staff and teachers from the school.

The gathering is also where the Dux for the year is announced with Isabel Gahan in close contention with Charles Gay for the coveted prize.

In the end Isabel’s outstanding result in her Higher School Certificate and ATAR score put her in the number one position where she was named 2017 Hennessy Catholic College Dux.