Merewether High School is in celebration mode today after the 2021 HSC and ATAR results were released.

Eight students were named on the NSW Education Standards Authority’s (NESA) Top Achievers merit list while 166 were listed as Distinguished Achievers.

One of those pupils was Neve Eardley.

After a challenging year the teen scored highly in all of her subjects with four Band 6s and two Band 5s, earning a 97.05 ATAR.

Neve says it is exciting to see that her “hard work has paid off”.

“It’s really good, it feels like we graduated a long time ago so it was a relief to see how we did,” she said. 

To earn those results took a lot of hard work, but for Neve it was also important to make sure she enjoyed the final chapter of her schooling life.

“I tried to manage my work life balance fairly well,” she said.

“I don’t think I devoted my entire life for that year to studying, I tried to make sure I enjoyed my HSC and was still able to go out and see friends and do things that I wanted to but I did put a lot of effort in.

“I’ve worked hard throughout all of my school life so I wanted to maintain that and finish on a high note.”

When asked, Neve was quick to offer some advice to current Year 12 students.

“Make sure you make it count, you only do it once so you may as well try your best,” she said.

Principal Rochelle Dooley could not be more proud of Neve and the other students. 

“These students have had to face the HSC like no other cohort ever has before,” she told Newcastle Weekly.

“They’ve missed out on so many of the celebrations that would be very typical of their final year and they’ve faced many challenges but they’ve just absolutely risen above and beyond. 

“The way that they’ve demonstrated their resilience and how focused they have been has just been outstanding. 

“They have very bright futures ahead of them and they’ve just shown what they’re capable of in such a challenging time and I think they will be incredibly successful with whichever pathway they go on in their lives.”

Moving forward, Neve is going to go to the University of Newcastle to study Environmental Science and Management. 

“I’ll do that with a major in Biodiversity,” she said. 

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