Bright future for students

A pair of ambitious young girls are off to university after scoring the two highest ATAR scores in Karratha.

Karratha Senior High School graduate Abbey Watkin achieved the top ATAR for the Pilbara with 97.15, while her classmate Jasmine Dang had a fantastic 90.65.

Ms Watkin, 18, pictured with Pilbara regional executive director Cheryl Parkin, has jetted off to Perth to begin the next chapter of her life and plans to study a double major in political science and international relations and Korean studies at UWA.

Speaking to Pilbara News, the KSHS dux said it was a relief her hard work had paid off.

“I’ve always been interested to a degree in politics, but in the last couple of years that really became more apparent,” she said.

Ms Watkin said stress helped motivate her.

“I mostly took advice from a lot of people who had done ATAR before me, and I learned to revise the syllabus and just really stay on top of my notes throughout the year,” she said.

Fellow KSHS alumnus Jasmine Dang, 17, plans to study medicine at Curtin University.

She said even from a young age, she had found the human body interesting.

“That interest was strengthened during school when we did dissections of the heart and lungs,” she said.

“Helping people would be a really fulfilling job, and medicine would challenge you so much mentally as well.”

Jasmine said her parents were proud of her for achieving her high ATAR. “I know that they would have been happy with me either way but are especially happy that I have a chance to do the course I wanted,” she said.

She said it was important for students to remember there were many university pathways.

“My advice would be to not stress so much about your exams and all your stuff to the point where you break down — there’s so many paths into university,” she said.