All Saints Grammar Captain Vasileios Manis finished first in Modern Greek Extension, the crowning achievement of an incredibly strong HSC performance with a 95.65 ATAR.
The 18-year-old performance in his HSC subjects saw him finish with marks of 93 in Ancient History, 47 (out of 50) in History Extension, 96 in Modern Greek Continuers, 84 in English Standard, and 88 in Geography.
His greatest result came in Modern Greek Extension wherein he finished with 50 out of 50, the best in NSW for the subject.
Vasileios explained he was left in the dark longer than others about his success, owing to the fact that he was unable to answer the phone when the person from the NSW Education Standards Authority called to inform him of his success.
“He left me a message and the next day he called me in the morning to tell me that I had finished first,” the student told Neos Kosmos.
The youngster, who was born in Larissa, admitted that he expected to perform well in the subject and was striving to get a state rank, though it still came as a surprise when he was told he had finished top in the subject.
He stated his family were confident he would do well and immensely proud once they heard the good news.
“They expected a state rank…They were very happy for me because it meant the work and study paid off,” Vasileios said.
The HSC result and ATAR was a great outcome for the All Saints Grammar student, who was partway into Year 6 in Greece before moving with his family to Australia.
“In the beginning it was quite difficult because, first of all, my English was not great. It was actually quite horrible,” Vasileios said in regards to the immediate transition.
“In Greece, we do learn English, of course, at the tutoring centres. However, the English we do there is not as extensive so when I came here it was a bit difficult to communicate, especially in class regarding my thoughts about each subject.”
He elaborated that it was equally tough to communicate with his classmates at first when he started Year 6 at All Saints Grammar, though he stressed that no one caused him grief or ignored him because of his weaker English.
“I was met with a very friendly environment which I was greatly appreciate of,” the 18-year-old said.
Vasileios expressed his pleasure with how his school years worked out, ensuring he did not lose his connection to Greece while developing a connection to Australia.
“I came at an age which was sort of in the middle of my school years. It was balanced and so I experienced enough of Greece and enough of Australia which I think worked out very well,” the All Saints Grammar captain said.
He was staunch in his recommendation of Modern Greek as a subject students should study for their HSC, stressing that all should consider it and not just those of Hellenic beckground.
“Something important that I do not think everyone knows this is that Modern Greek is not just the study of the language,” the 18-year-old said.
“You do not just learn Greek, you learn about different aspects like culture, religion, history and more.”
Vasileios credited his Modern Greek teacher, Mr Hadjiyianni, saying he did a great job in teaching his class and sharing his knowledge to the students.
“He built a very friendly environment in class. We all looked forward to going every day that we had it, not only to learn but to have discussions about various topics,” the youngster said.
Vasileios expressed that Mr Hadjiyianni, along with his other teachers, played a big role in inspiring him for what he wants to study at university.
“I had many career paths that I was considering but I ended up choosing to study teaching to become a High School teacher, specifically for Humanities subjects like History, Geography and Greek,” he said.
“That was with strong influenced from my teachers. I was seeing their work every day at school. I really admired it and I thought to myself that I could have a similar role and also give back to the Greek community in that capacity.”
He stated his goal will be to emulate their efforts in cultivating a friendly environment and working with students to help shape and guide them towards achieving their goals.
Vasileios is now hoping to get into the University of NSW to study a double degree of Arts and Education, and his phenomenal results have well and truly set him on the right course.
