WHENEVER Lily Webster needed a break from studying for the Higher School Certificate, she would walk around Caves Beach and collect four leaf clovers.
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"I found it really therapeutic because it's a task where you don't have to think about anything, I could just listen to music and just have a look for them - I found that really meditative," Lily, 18, said.
"I ended up collecting over 100 so at my school's formal me and my fellow school captain put them all in a little card and we gave one to everyone in the year as a good luck charm."
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The Newcastle Grammar School student combined any luck she gleaned with hard work to achieve the Hunter's highest Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, 99.9.
"I'm quite surprised really, I was not sure what I was going to get so I was pretty happy to see that this morning," she said on Thursday, after a restless night's sleep.
Lily intentionally didn't check her HSC subject results until after she had her ATAR.
"I was hoping to get above 99 maybe but I didn't really have any sort of strict goals," she said.
"I worked pretty hard across my high school years so I guess I just wanted to see how well I could do this year and push myself to do as well as I possibly could, to make the most of it.
"You definitely have to have a balance but I did work pretty hard at the key points, before trials, before the HSC and before each assessment I would really focus on school and try and do as well as I possibly could."
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She said she honed "natural study skills" throughout high school.
"This year I didn't really have to develop study skills, I already had them in my bank from refining them across the course of my high school years, so I really sort of felt I knew what I was doing this year. If you can also develop an investment in school that isn't just purely for the marks but you enjoy what you're doing I think that really helps."
Lily hopes to gain entry to a bachelor of science and advanced studies at the University of Sydney and specialise in medical science.
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Helen Gregory
Helen Gregory joined the Newcastle Herald in 2010. She is the masthead’s education reporter and has written for the H2 and Weekender sections, as well as across a range of issues. Helen is a Walkley Award winning journalist and was also part of the Newcastle Herald team that won the United Nations World Environment Day Media Award for Environmental Reporting.
Helen Gregory joined the Newcastle Herald in 2010. She is the masthead’s education reporter and has written for the H2 and Weekender sections, as well as across a range of issues. Helen is a Walkley Award winning journalist and was also part of the Newcastle Herald team that won the United Nations World Environment Day Media Award for Environmental Reporting.
