Three high-achieving students in Greek were honoured by the Premier this week in the annual Premier VCE Awards.
Among them was Artemis Sfendourakis who amazingly achieved the only perfect score (50) for that year, all while studying in year 11.
Now the year 12 student at Loreto Mandeville Hall looks back fondly on her Greek classes.
“I really remember enjoying my studies and just being really pleased with how I’d improved throughout the year, because you get scared by the end of year exams,” she told Neos Kosmos.
“Just have faith in yourself and you can do it.”
Miss Sfendourakis has her parents, teacher and grandmothers to thank for her high score. They all took the time to speak to her in Greek, while quizzing her and helping her through the coursework.
Studying at the Greek school of the parish of Agia Ekaterini in Malvern, the 17-year-old spoke very highly of her teacher, Kyrios Pericles.
“My teacher Kyrios Pericles was amazing, he knew the course backwards,” she says.
Along with her course work, Miss Sfendourakis says the key to getting the upper hand was doing a lot of practice exams, listening to SBS radio, reading the Greek newspaper and watching Greek TV.
A trip to Greece this year also helped her get the local feel. She hopes to go on to study an arts degree in French and music.
The top three students for Greek were all female, including Cheltenham Secondary College and Omiros College student Angelica Gouliovas, who achieved a score of 47, and Alphington Grammar’s Ioanna Yiannourakou Lianidou who also achieved a 47.
Twenty-two students out of 256 achieved a score over 40 in Modern Greek in 2012. Last year’s program also saw a slight increase in student numbers, with 242 students taking the language through to year 12.
Another six Greek Australian students received awards for excellence in different areas. Xafina Dendrinos of Mentone Girls’ Grammar School got top honours in German, while Irena Galanos from Balwyn High School got an award for Health and Human Development. Star of the Sea College student Benita Kovolos got an award for Literature while Jessica Sofarnos from St Michael’s Grammar School got top dance honours, and Stephanie Papadopoulos from Mount St Joseph Girls’ College was awarded for Food an Technology.
The only Greek Australian male to get an award was Xavier College’s James Samartzis, who was awarded for Texts and Traditions.
The awards were held and the Melbourne Convention Centre, with 286 brainy students coming to accept their awards.
A total of 310 awards were presented in three categories: Study Awards, Top Three International Student Awards, and Top All Round High Achiever Awards for students who received a study score of 46 or above in at least five subjects.