Recent HSC results are testimony to the strength of academic rigour and range of character building activities offered and encouraged at PLC Armidale, which has consistently ranked in the state’s top 200 schools.
This year PLC Armidale came in 148th place in NSW, above all others in their region, according to a school spokesman.
Head prefect and 2017 Dux of the 130-year-old college, Ragavi Jeyakumar, is an exemplary PLC Armidale graduate, a fine young woman of integrity, humble in her extraordinary achievements, he said.
Ragavi has always wanted to study medicine, and now with an ATAR of 99.75 she can.
She is a first generation Australian who arrived with her family from Sri Lanka in 2006, first to Wee Waa, then Armidale.
Ragavi could have gone to any school, but chose to stay at PLC Armidale to pursue her goals of one day becoming a doctor and working for the UN World Health Organisation, developing health policies for developing countries and rural Australia.
A Regional Lion’s Youth of the Year winner, and one of four PLC students selected to attend the National Youth Science Forum in Canberra earlier in the year, Ragavi adds a tour to the US later this month, as she was one of 16 Year 10 to12 students selected from across Australia to join the inaugural UN American Political Tour, which includes a visit to the White House.
“I am very grateful for the diverse range of opportunities and experiences at PLC Armidale,” Ragavi said.
“I know I would not have had these elsewhere, such as Guild Drama, Duke of Edinburgh, music, sport and wide range of community service programs.
“The enormous benefit of a PLC Armidale education is that you are known for who you are and have lots of individual support from the teachers and support staff.
“There was such a co-operative environment in our Year 12 cohort, compared with the fierce competition at other schools.
“I loved the strong sense of community here.
“I think I can safely say that I have spent most of my life in a school and a community full of people who, in upbringing and cultural background, are very different from me, and while it may seem like an odd thing to say, this is perhaps the single most valuable experience I have had.
“Travelling back to Sri Lanka recently made me appreciate the opportunities here even more and motivated me to work harder.”
The spokesman said: “Our world, and certainly our region, needs more PLC Armidale graduates like Ragavi Jeyakumar.”
Scholarships and bursaries are available.
- Contact enrolments manager Sally McCook on (02) 6770 1700.
