General News
14 January, 2025
Highest achiever: Lucy Scott lines up her ducks after receiving top marks
Horsham College dux Lucy Scott will study Law in Adelaide in 2025.
Horsham College's Lucy Scott was named the school's dux of 2024 thanks to impressive results in four out of five subjects.
The Haven-based student earnt a tertiary admission rank of 95.80, following study scores in the top one per cent for Health and Human Development, the top five per cent for Legal Studies and the top 10 per cent for English and Psychology.
Despite a successful academic year, she admits in the days leading up to receiving the results, she was preparing for the worst.
"When I read the results, I thought it wasn't mine," Lucy said.
"I was preparing myself in case I didn't get what I wanted. I was aiming for the 90s, but I wasn't sure how attainable that was.
"I opened it and screamed and cried. I couldn't believe it. Still can't believe it."
The 2024 Year 12 graduate said she did everything possible to balance study, social life, and work well.
"I wanted to prioritize studying as much as I could but also have time for work, school, netball training and keeping my social life intact," she said.
"I found keeping a balance and not doing too much of one thing really helped me.
"If, for one week, I just studied and didn't prioritise other things, then I wouldn't feel good about myself, and I would feel like I was lacking in an area."
"I tried to really spread out my time as evenly and, yeah, as much as I could, keep a balance."
Like many duces across the region, Lucy studied Health and Human Development in 2024, which risked lowering her ATAR if she did not earn a near-perfect study score.
However, the reward far outweighed any possible penalty.
"I know Health was an interesting choice because it is a subject that scales down," she said.
"But if you do well in it, then you can get a high study score. I really enjoyed the content. I would say it was my favourite subject.
"Plus, Health and Psychology interacted a little bit... actually, Psychology and Legal Studies interacted a little bit as well."
With an extended study break during Christmas and the New Year's period behind her, Lucy is looking forward to returning to study in the coming months.
"I definitely thought about doing a gap year all throughout 2024, especially when the studying got too much," she said.
"But I think it's where I get that self-reassurance.
"So I'd rather get a course just under my belt and then go travel. There's plenty of time to do that."
In 2025, the young dux will head to Adelaide to study for a Bachelor of Law.