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They’re tops in their class

Caitlyn WattsPilbara News
Karratha Senior High School dux Abbey Watkin and St Luke's College Karratha dux Czarina Laciste.
Camera IconKarratha Senior High School dux Abbey Watkin and St Luke's College Karratha dux Czarina Laciste. Credit: Caitlyn Watts/Pilbara News/Caitlyn Watts

Despite a challenging final year of schooling, these young brainiacs rose to the challenge and came out top of their class.

St Luke’s College’s Czarina Laciste and Karratha Senior High School’s Abbey Watkin were named dux last month, capping a difficult 2020 where they experienced a severe cyclone and a global pandemic on top of a busy year 12.

For Czarina, who had an ATAR exam on her 18th birthday, studying medicine at UWA has always been a dream.

Her subjects were English, religion, mathematics methods, chemistry and human biology, helping set her up for a career in science.

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“I’ve always wanted to do science and be in the pathway of medicine so I chose subjects that would help me get into university easier and understand the topic better,” she said.

Czarina credits her success to her primary schooling in the Philippines which she said had a strong academic focus, as well as having solid support from her parents. She has been at St Luke’s since Year 8 and has juggled being a student executive with a part-time job while completing her WACE.

Abbey’s interests lie in the humanities field.

She moved to Karratha halfway through Year 11 and completed English, mathematics applications, modern history and geography while also having a part-time job.

The 17-year-old said she is is looking forward to accepting her early offer to study a double major in humanities at UWA.

The pair completed their final exams and plan to move to Perth next year for their tertiary studies.

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