Vic: Victorian student achieves his dreams with perfect score

AAP General News (Australia)
12-11-2000
Vic: Victorian student achieves his dreams with perfect score

MELBOURNE, Dec 11 AAP - Nothing could get in the way of a severely visually impaired
Victorian high school student achieving his dreams.

Balwyn High School student Benjamin Schmidt was one of 21 students who achieved a perfect
Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank (ENTER) of 99.95 in the Victorian Certificate
of Education (VCE).

Long hours slaving over his enlarged print books paid off for the gutsy teenager, who
composes and plays the piano in his spare time.

"There are times when you really wish that things would be easier, but overall I've
learnt to live with it and I make the most of it, Benjamin told Channel Nine.

"Put everything you've got into it because if you know that you can do it then really
there's nothing that can stop you from doing it," he said.

Benjamin will now turn his talent to university studies after receiving a full scholarship
from the University of Melbourne to enter science engineering.

Meanwhile, thousands of other students today logged onto the Internet or called a results
hotline to find out their VCE results.

Essendon Keilor College Students Lauren Phelan and Josh McDonald wasted no time in
clicking onto the Internet this morning.

"My mum was over the moon. She was running around the house in a panic trying to ring
everybody, but I was on the Internet so she had to get the mobile out," Josh McDonald
told ABC television.

Board of Studies Chairman Professor Kwong Lee Dow said nearly 95 per cent of the 46,553
eligible students passed their VCE.

Girls were marginally more successful than boys in this year's exam results, with nearly
96 per cent (24,009) of eligible female students and nearly 94 per cent (20,143) of eligible
male students receiving their VCE.

Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) Director John Wade said students now had
the opportunity to consider their ENTER and change their preferences up until noon on
Tuesday, December 19.

Students will also receive their VCE results and ENTER in the post tomorrow.

AAP st/clr/hu/de m

KEYWORD: VCE NIGHTLEAD

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