They topped the HSC over the past 40 years. Where are they now?

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This was published 4 years ago

They topped the HSC over the past 40 years. Where are they now?

By Natassia Chrysanthos and Anushri Sood

HSC high achievers through the decades: Geoff Wilkes (1979), Vivien Chen (1989), Kate Peterson (1999) and Patrick Hamid (2009).

HSC high achievers through the decades: Geoff Wilkes (1979), Vivien Chen (1989), Kate Peterson (1999) and Patrick Hamid (2009).Credit: SMH

Forty years ago, Geoff Wilkes arrived home from his department store job to the surprise of his young life. "As it was the pre-internet, pre-phone, pre-everything days", the Epping Boys High graduate did not know his HSC results, but everyone else did. He had finished seventh in the state. "It had already been reported in the newspapers, so my family knew, my neighbours knew and I didn’t know," he remembers.

In the days after their results arrived, Wilkes and three other top-20 achievers from the class of '79 were interviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald about their goals, their "hopes and doubts", and how they planned to meet "the challenge of the '80s".

Wilkes was concerned about Russia's activities in Afghanistan; Mary Myerscough from Ku-ring-gai High called for "more independents" to "give parliament a shake-up". The main task of their mothers was "to run their homes" and the students felt ignored by those in power. "The authorities don't tend to listen unless you kick up a big stink," Peter Robinson from Asquith Boys High School said.

'Top pupils of '79 are full of confidence for 80s': The interview with four top-20 students of 1979.

'Top pupils of '79 are full of confidence for 80s': The interview with four top-20 students of 1979.Credit: SMH

Back then, there were half as many HSC students; 67,915 will receive an HSC this year compared to about 35,000 in 1979. Myerscough recalls waiting for the postman to check her Tertiary Entrance Rank, a score out of 500, in early January 1980. This year's students will receive a text message on Tuesday with their HSC marks and log in to the UAC website at 1pm to get their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, a ranking of up to 99.95.

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But the pre-result nerves and existential questions about what to do next have not changed. The Herald has tracked down students from 40, 30, 20 and 10 years ago to find out where they ended up, and ask their advice for the class of 2019.

Forty years on (1979)

Research says graduates today will have five different careers in their lifetime, but that was not the case in 1979. Each student told the Herald their dream career - Peter Robinson, who came first in the state, wanted to be a physicist. Wilkes aspired to be an arts academic, Myerscough had her heart set on science and Ross Baldick from Chatswood High hoped to be an electrical engineer. Each is still working as an academic in related fields.

Original caption: ''Peter, Geoff, Mary and Ross.... all North Shore types, more conservative than students a decade ago and all products of "Good" schools.
The best and the brightest of the Class of '79 are full of confidence, even anxious to meet the challenge of the 80s.
They are likable, without the arrogance that sometimes goes with gifted minds.
But they have learned some lessons of the harsh 70s. Youthful optimism is touched with cynicism."

Original caption: ''Peter, Geoff, Mary and Ross.... all North Shore types, more conservative than students a decade ago and all products of "Good" schools. The best and the brightest of the Class of '79 are full of confidence, even anxious to meet the challenge of the 80s. They are likable, without the arrogance that sometimes goes with gifted minds. But they have learned some lessons of the harsh 70s. Youthful optimism is touched with cynicism."Credit: SMH

Robinson decided he wanted to be a physicist in year 9 and, 40 years later, is a physics professor at the University of Sydney. He admits his career path has been "pretty linear", but he has not spent four decades doing the same thing. "Almost nothing in [my] current research today existed 40 years ago," he says. "I work mostly on understanding the physics of the brain. I certainly never imagined that when I was a high school student."

Wilkes says the same about life since school. "I ended up where I wanted to end up. I didn’t get to it without minor diversions, but no real dramas or major life stories or anything," he says. Like many HSC high achievers, he enrolled in Arts and Law at the University of Sydney. "But I hated law," he says. "So I just did straight Arts after the first year".

He is now a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland, where he researches German literary criticism and has recently translated novels. "Don’t waste time looking for a magic wand or a magic technique," Wilkes says. "The best place to get advice is certainly from your teachers and the best strategy for doing well is almost certainly to work hard. If you’re disappointed, check back with yourself in three months time. You might be surprised."

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Myerscough remembers waiting for the postman on that fateful day back in January 1980. "He came down the road, we were watching for him, he put a letter in the letterbox, I dashed down and got it. I opened it up - it was on a sheet of orange paper - and we’ve got a photo of my mother at the time. She was tremendously excited."

Both Mary Myerscough and Geoff Wilkes are academics today, in similar fields to those they named their dream career in 1979.

Both Mary Myerscough and Geoff Wilkes are academics today, in similar fields to those they named their dream career in 1979.Credit: Edwina Pickles

But the hype was fleeting. "When you receive your HSC mark, it’s something you’re waiting [for] and there’s a whole lot of excitement around it. I enjoyed that - I quite like a limited amount of drama in my life," Myerscough says. "Then you move on and start other things. You start on a new path of development and you grow in different ways." She is now a professor at the University of Sydney and researches applied mathematics.

"Nowadays, I think there’s a lot more pressure on kids. You get the ATAR and everybody has a comparable number and its just so much more of a 'thing'," Myerscough says. "The HSC is just one part of your life, it’s not going to determine your life trajectory. Who you are, persistence, hard work and the ability to leverage opportunities are just as important, if not more so."

When Wilkes attended his 40-year school reunion this year, he was struck by "how everyone had done very well in the field they’d gone into, whether it was the theatre or the public service or private enterprise".

"It wasn’t as if I’d done remarkably better in career terms than anybody else. The fact that I’d gotten a better HSC than all of them didn’t really matter," he says. "About six months later nobody cares and it’s not a measure of whether you’re a good person or not."

Thirty years on (1989)

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Topping the state was never a goal for Vivien Chen, who graduated from MLC Burwood in 1989. "It sounds really awful to say it now, but I didn't come out of the exams feeling really confident," she told the Herald when she received her results 30 years ago.

Her first university preference was medicine - "like everyone else I guess," she said at the time. After studying a combined medicine and arts degree she is now a clinical haematologist, treating blood conditions, and leads a medical research group. She won a university medal, completed a PHD and in 2017 won a Premier’s Award for Woman of the Year.

Original caption: "Vivien Chen who scored 492 in her H.S.C. exams says ‘my first preference is medicine like everyone else I guess. It sounds really awful to say it now, but I didn't come out of the exams feeling really confident,’ she said yesterday."

Original caption: "Vivien Chen who scored 492 in her H.S.C. exams says ‘my first preference is medicine like everyone else I guess. It sounds really awful to say it now, but I didn't come out of the exams feeling really confident,’ she said yesterday."Credit: Steve Christo

"My course was relatively linear. I really enjoyed the arts and the concept of research as well; I love the excitement that comes with discovery. I’ve had difficulty letting go of these various things that I’ve enjoyed over the years and so I'm fortunate I have found a way to combine both in my career," she says.

"The HSC is one step of the journey. While I got into the course that took me to the career that I wanted, I don’t think that anybody at the age of 17 knows what the reality is going to be of their working life. You have ideas [but] life takes you where it takes you. There are many ways and many paths that people can take to get to where they want to go."

Vivien Chen now.

Vivien Chen now.

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While Chen can no longer recall how she learned her mark, Sydney Girls High School alumnus and equal second in the state Tanya Pelly remembers the day vividly. She was sitting in a "yellow German phone booth in this beautiful snowy little Bavarian town", frantically calling her brother who had gone to a post office in Sydney to pick up her results. "I just remember thinking it was all completely surreal," she says.

She decided to study medicine in high school as a way to help people, but before that had her heart set on teaching. "My parents were teachers and psychologists and now when I look back 30 years later, the crux of most of what I do is grounded in education and psychology," she says.

Following a medicine degree she tried her hand at hotel management, and had a stint as a personal trainer before finding her passion in healthcare. She describes her medical career as "unconventional" and now works a job that didn't exist when she graduated; she leads change management in health systems, supporting professionals to deliver the best outcomes for patients.

Tanya Pelly has had an "unconventional" medical career since studying medicine after high school.

Tanya Pelly has had an "unconventional" medical career since studying medicine after high school.

While she was focused on getting high marks in her HSC, Pelly says hindsight has helped her understand "being intrinsically motivated and engaged in learning is the most important thing".

"There is more pressure around academic achievement [today]. The levels of coaching and tutoring that go on now are certainly very different to when I was going through school," she says.

"The general message that what you get in the HSC will not determine your life is a really important one. As you get older the really important things are your values and beliefs, and [whether] you can live according to those and share them with other people that you connect with."

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Twenty years on (1999)

Kate Peterson was the first student at Baulkham Hills High to score the highest University Admission Index of 100. "The neighbours came over and thought I was being murdered, I was screaming so much," she told the Herald 20 years ago.

The SMH photographed Kate Peterson after she won a university scholarship for the highest UAI

The SMH photographed Kate Peterson after she won a university scholarship for the highest UAICredit: Peter Rae

She had mapped out her next five years at law school and wanted to be a politician - preferably minister for the environment, education or industrial relations - although at the time she thought Parliament was "the bastion of masculinity at its worst".

Today Peterson says she is "proud to be a director at an innovative employment law firm that cares about people". She followed up her University of Sydney degree with a Masters in the United Kingdom and chose to stay in the profession; she has also worked as an advocate in the Fair Work Commission and Coronial Courts.

"My career has not been a total surprise," she says. "It feels like a maturing of talent, ideas and values I had when I was younger. My best career moments have always come from being authentic and never sitting back as if there is nothing more to learn."

Kate Peterson now.

Kate Peterson now.

She encourages students to "throw yourself into education in all its forms - whether through traditional study, mentoring from people you admire, travel or simply approaching the world and the people in it with openness and curiosity".

Ten years on (2009)

Patrick Hamid at the 2009 HSC First in Course awards at Technology Park Redfern.

Patrick Hamid at the 2009 HSC First in Course awards at Technology Park Redfern.Credit: Ben Rushton

When Patrick Hamid from Casimir Catholic College in Marrickville topped the state in information technology, he was profiled by the Herald as a self-taught IT buff. The young entrepreneur had already started his own IT support business for low-income families and had applied for a scholarship at the University of Technology Sydney, as he was living in a youth refuge at the time and supporting himself financially.

"I never thought I would finish my degree and I'm surprised that I'm finishing off my Masters now," Hamid says, 10 years after leaving home in the "worst of situations" during year 12.

The Herald's profiles of some of 2009's top achievers, including Patrick Hamid.

The Herald's profiles of some of 2009's top achievers, including Patrick Hamid.Credit: SMH

"I was in a youth refuge during my trial HSC exams and I was probably homeless during the first couple of years of uni, going between different refuges and assisted accommodation," he says. "But I think I’ve always been stubborn in wanting to get things done and just stay focused, even when others told me 'No'. I think that kept me going regardless."

He was eventually able to find private rental accommodation, and he put his business on hiatus a few years ago when he accepted a job with American technology conglomerate Cisco. Hamid has since returned to the Sydney startup scene, and is a mentor working with startups alongside his full-time role as a product manager for a capital raising platform.

Patrick Hamid today works as a product manager and mentors new startups.

Patrick Hamid today works as a product manager and mentors new startups.

"Starting up that [IT support] business pretty much cemented my entrepreneurial aspirations, to try and help out others," he says. "I never thought it would lead me to the startup world. Being in startups led me down this really weird, interesting path. A lot of money was blown, a lot of dreams and aspirations were shattered, but I’m still persevering."

His advice for students who may feel disappointed on Tuesday: "Don’t dwell on your current circumstance. Focus on what you can achieve in the future."

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