Jurien Bay student Rorie Rackemann secures top ATAR result for the Mid West-Gascoyne district

A Jurien Bay girl has achieved superstar results in her Year 12 ATAR exams, after coming out on top in the Mid West and Gascoyne district.

Rorie Rackemann, from Jurien Bay District High School, proves you don’t need to live in the big city or even a regional city to get impressive results, after she received an ATAR of 97.15.

In 2022, eight Mid West and Gascoyne high school graduates achieved an ATAR greater than 95, putting them in the top few per cent of students who took the exams.

Nagle Catholic College’s Zachary Sheilds (96.15) and William Rogers (96.90), Geraldton Grammar School’s Cindy Verbe (96.60), Emily MacPherson (95.25) and Sky Loy (95), and Charlotte McAuliffe from Champion Bay Senior High School (95.05) are among the local elite.

Cameron Waddingham from Exmouth District High School also achieved an ATAR of 95.30.

Across WA last year, 16 achieved the highest possible ATAR of 99.95, while the median was 83.45.

Rorie felt relieved her efforts had paid off and said she hoped to study physiotherapy at Curtin University.

“You don’t have to be in the city to achieve strong results. No matter where you go to school you can achieve high results, presuming you work for them,” she said. “Your ATAR isn’t everything and it’s important to put time into things you enjoy, but no results come without consistent work.”

For Cindy, who was head girl at Geraldton Grammar School, her Year 12 highlights included giving a speech about youth at an Anzac Day service, participating in wreath services and attending the school balls.

“Find what you do best and run with it to the best of your ability,” she said.

Staying open-minded and prioritising downtime was Cindy’s key to success. She said she hoped to study medicine at university.

Meanwhile, Zachary has wanted to be an engineer since he was in Year 8, and says his ATAR results were built from hard work and would help him on that path.

“You always want to do the best for yourself, it doesn’t matter how you’re compared to everyone else, but you need to feel like you’ve done the most you can,” he said.

ATAR is based on a student’s best four subjects, giving them a rank among all other Year 12 academic students in the State.