There's nothing like a little friendly competition to help motivate excellent HSC results - and that's exactly how four Gloucester High School students achieved a band six in Food Technology.
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Makayla Battams, Keira Macdonald, Danielle Channon and Riko Fitzgerald made the distinguished achievers list with Riko also posting a band six result for the hospitality examination.
The girls weren't surprised by their results, having been very well prepared by their teacher, Myree Ribbons.
"We had a great teacher and we learned the content," Makayla said.
"It helped having such nice and enthusiastic teachers. Shout out to Ms Ribbons and Ms Harris," Riko said.
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And it doesn't hurt that they were all a little competitive when it came to their classroom rankings.
"The assignment marks were close. Our ranks kept changing," Makayla smiled.
"I wanted to do well," Keira said.
Ms Ribbons had been teaching the students since year nine and had gotten to know them and their study habits quite well.
"Out of a class of 10, five got above 80," Ms Ribbons said.
The results are something Ms Ribbons is quite proud of especially given the students undertook their HSC preparation during the worst years of the global pandemic.
"The students worked really hard for two years and truly deserve this accolade," Ms Ribbons said.
Riko's results are also quite special as had she spent a year on Rotary exchange in Slovakia during the start of COVID, delaying the start of her final year.
"I was so happy to see that my hard work paid off. Although, I didn't study as much as I should've before the actual HSC exams," Riko admitted. "But all the assignments and studying I did throughout the year helped me achieve these band sixes. I'm really interested in and enjoy food technology and hospitality, so I didn't mind studying and memorising the content."
When it comes to future plans, Riko is still figuring it out.
"I am not too sure what career I would like to pursue in the future, so I am just going to try lots of different things and see what I enjoy," Riko said.
"In the near future, I would like to study for a Diploma of Business at TAFE to further my knowledge in e-marketing, human resources, business financing, business law and more, so that one day I will be a successful business owner."
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The other girls, on the other hand, have all headed off to Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie
Keira is studying psychology.
"I'm looking forward to studying something I'm really interested in," Keira said.
Danielle is studying physiotherapy.
"I'm looking forward to learning things that are related to my career," Danielle said.
And Makayla is taking on Environmental Science.
"I'm looking forward to new experiences, both inside and outside of school," Makayla said.
Data from the NSW Education Standards Authority indicates that 3758 students were enrolled in HSC Food Technology in 2021. Gloucester High is very proud to have four of its students on the distinguished achievers list.
The key to their success comes down to the style of preparation Ms Ribbons adopted. Having been a former HSC marker for the subject gave her additional knowledge in relation to the criteria and benchmarks used.
Students were issued an HSC examination workbook which included past papers with exemplar responses from top performing students in the HSC. Students also regularly participated in practice online multiple-choice questions, writing short answer and essay responses during class time and their own time allowing for teacher feedback.
Anne Keen
Anne has been a journalist with the ACM (Australia Community Media) since 2016. She primarily works at the Gloucester Advocate but also contributes to the Manning River Times.
Anne has been a journalist with the ACM (Australia Community Media) since 2016. She primarily works at the Gloucester Advocate but also contributes to the Manning River Times.
