By Natasha Fujimoto
THE challenge and pressure of year 12 VCE for most students speaks for itself under ‘normal’ circumstances but when you consider what this year’s cohort of students have had to endure in the lead up to their all-important final exams, it takes your breath away.
Through bushfires, covid lockdowns and two broken years of online learning, VCE students Amy McCorry and Chelsea Kubeil have had to work harder than any previous generation to graduate.
A talented dancer and actor, with over 50 stage performances to her name, Amy has a full ledger of VCE subjects on her plate. Hoping to be a dance instructor in the future Amy said,
“Year 12 has been a struggle for me, I struggle with learning, and I can get easily distracted.
“Just before the floods, I was going to the library every day until 10pm. I was proud of how hard I was working and with the floods, my motivation just washed away.”
A talented academic, Chelsea has her eyes set on becoming an occupational therapist, and although she has studied hard all year, the floods were an event that knocked her sideways,
“I had to evacuate my home and although I had wifi where I was staying, I just felt so tired. I just felt like I didn’t want to do anything.”
With the floods cancelling the girl’s official graduation day at school, they have remarkably bounced back to resume their exam preparation.
With derivative scores to fall back on, Amy and Chelsea aim to give it their all in their final exams, but for Amy the disappointment of not being able say goodbye to all her classmates and teachers was a bitter blow,
“I wanted to thank my teachers and say goodbye to all my friends together at school one last time. When we missed out on that, it was enough to make me want to cry.”
