Al Taqwa college’s Manhal Muhiyaddeen Hassen won’t just get praise and congratulatory messages for his 95.85 Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), the second highest achieving student at the school will also receive $7000.
The school in Truganina offers rewards for students who earn high results, with the dux receiving $10,000 and the third highest achiever being rewarded $5000.
Mr Muhiyaddeen Hassen said he wasn’t “really thinking about it” throughout the year, and the reward has just now become a reality for him.
“I’ll probably just use it to save for a car to be honest,” he said.
Mr Muhiyaddeen Hassen said the year has been “full on” and is looking forward to applying for businesses courses at RMIT.
“There’s been SACs [School Assessed Coursework] left, right and centre, there’s exams, there’s tests, you get two days off at the weekend and then it’s right back to it Monday to Friday,” he said.
“My school really carried, they went above and beyond and I think it paid off in the results.”
Al-Taqwa College vice principal Mohammad Hallak said the school was “over the moon” with its VCE results.
“Our dux scored an ATAR of 98.25, nine students exceeded 90, a further six 80, and half the VCE cohort scored 70 or higher,” he said.
“This is an extraordinary result for us, achieved in spite of the college’s severely being struck by Covid in 2020 and 2021.
“Perhaps it was because of what happened, and our school being in the harsh spotlight the way that it was, that our 2022 Year 12 students were inspired to do so well as a group.”
Mr Muhiyaddeen Hassen also offered advice for students entering their final year of high school next year.
“Listen in class, I know a lot of teachers would put emphasis on studying, but when you listen in class you’d be surprised what you can recall at the end of the year,” he said.
