By Matt Crossman
Educational success depends on many things, not least of which is the support of loved ones.
Paige Toner says she has been blessed with tremendous help from her family, including her mother who spent 90 minutes each day driving her between Altona and Sunbury Downs College.
That and Ms Toner’s own commitment to excellence, contributed to her achieving a tertiary entrance rank of 97.1 and being named dux of the school.
She has also had a media project selected for the National Gallery of Victoria’s prestigious
VCE Top Arts exhibition, which starts in March.
The 18-year-old from Altona was presented with the award at a ceremony last week. She was one of four Sunbury Downs students to break the 90-point mark.
‘‘We moved to Altona at the end of year 7.
I was in the ACE [accelerated learning] program at Sunbury Downs, I liked the school and had already made friends, so I was lucky that my mum was happy to drive me every day.’’
Ms Toner, who attended Goonawarra Primary School, says her score came as a surprise.
‘‘I couldn’t believe it. After my exams, I had done all these calculations and my ‘holy grail’ score was 93.’’
Straight A-pluses in her year 12 subjects, including media, global politics, legal studies, maths and English, contributed to her outstanding result.
Ms Toner says she managed to balance her study schedule with a healthy social life.
‘‘I was under the impression that to do really well you had to have a really strict timetable, but I didn’t do that.’’
She did spend a lot of time swotting with classmates over Skype and admitted to having a legal studies poster on the bathroom door.
Ms Toner, who is about to start a bachelor of arts degree at Melbourne University, says she hasn’t settled on a particular career but could see herself working in international diplomacy.
‘‘I would love to have a job where I can travel,’’ she says.
Her advice for students entering year 12 this year?
‘‘Just make sure you do your best. You only get one chance and you’d hate to look back and regret something.’’
