This year was meant to be the year VCE students could finally cast off their COVID shackles and live and learn unaffected by lockdowns or remote learning, but the long tail of the pandemic dictated otherwise.
Digiglio watched some students struggle to readjust to ordinary school life this year. But for him, the hardest thing was the step-up in workload.“I didn’t feel prepared for year 12. The disruptions over the last couple of years threw me off balance. When we got to year 12, I was like, I don’t even know where my time is going.”
Ashwood High School student Hamna Sajid moved from Pakistan to Australia in 2020, so her VCE years had the added pressure of adjusting to life in a new country.Sajid moved to Australia from Pakistan in late 2020, so her VCE years had the added pressure of adjusting to life in a new country. She’s applying to medical schools, but would also be happy to study biomedicine or medical engineering.“All of the schooling we did do, it all builds up to this one specific point,” she said.
Kaltzidis was told that year 12 would be the “longest, shortest” year of his life. But with a busy schedule, the year went fast.