Amelia shines in HSC despite hearing impairment

Amelia Stevens celebrated her HSC achievements while holidaying in Europe

As Central Coast students received their HSC results, Henry Kendall High School celebrates the remarkable achievements of Year 12 graduate Amelia Stevens, who has excelled both academically and as a leader, despite facing the challenges of a hearing impairment.

The school said Amelia, who was diagnosed with a hearing impairment at an early age and uses a cochlear implant, has shown incredible resilience in overcoming obstacles and has been an inspiration to both her peers and teachers.

The Year 12 graduate received Band 6 marks in all her HSC courses, earning her the title of “Distinguished Achiever”.

“As a school prefect, Amelia’s natural leadership and passion for community involvement have left a lasting impact,” a school spokesperson said.

“She is frequently approached by younger students, who look up to her for her kindness, compassion and humility.

“Her contributions extend beyond the classroom, as she has also been a long-term volunteer with St John’s Ambulance, demonstrating her commitment to helping others.”

Amelia said her results were “a huge relief and very exciting”.

“I wasn’t expecting such a result but it’s extremely validating,” she said.

“The confirmation that my hard work was all for something in the end was overwhelming, and I’m so lucky to have been in a supportive environment when they came through.

“The HSC was a challenge like no other, so it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders when the results came through; I cried!”

Amelia has long been an advocate for improving educational experiences for students with disabilities.

Her own hearing impairment has meant that she often needs to put in extra effort to ensure she keeps up with her studies.

“My hearing impairment means that in order to get the same amount out of my classes as other students, I often have to go back over the content in my free time, ask more questions and so forth,” she said.

“To achieve this, I have received the most incredible support from Hearing Australia and my itinerant hearing support (IST-H) teachers across the 13 years of my schooling.

“Not only that, Henry Kendall’s amazing student services team was consistently amazing and I am so grateful for everyone that helped me along the way to ensure that in classes, I was getting the same amount of education and learning my classmates were.

“Without that I would have fallen behind and not been able to do the extra work and effort at home that the HSC required.”

Next year, Amelia will pursue her passion for writing and education, with plans to study communications (writing and publishing) and secondary education (English and society and culture) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

“I’m very excited to start,” she said.

1 Comment on "Amelia shines in HSC despite hearing impairment"

  1. Maree O’Malley | December 29, 2024 at 6:26 am |

    We are so proud of Amelia but as one of her long term teachers, I am not surprised at all with this young lady’s results. Wishing her all the best. I look forward to buying her first novel.

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