It was a tough year for all year 12 students, but Josie Witherdin had an extra blow to deal with in her final year of school.
The St Joseph's Catholic College, Lochinvar student lost her father at the start of 2020, while in the midst of studying her HSC during a pandemic.
But despite all of those challenges, the 18-year-old managed to achieve a band six mark (90 or above) in all of her subjects, which were Advanced English, Extension English, Mathematics Standard 2, Modern History, Religion and Visual Arts; giving her an ATAR of 99.3.
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Her mark of 97 for Mathematics Standard 2 was also the 13th highest in the state, placing her on the Top Achievers list.
"I was really stoked," Josie said. "I was thinking low 90s - I didn't think I'd get 99.
"Considering the year that it was I relied on my teachers. I scored pretty similarly in my trials, but I kept seeking feedback to further improve."
After her father's death, Josie actually changed her Visual Arts body of work to incorporate memories of her dad using videos, photographs and a poem she recited.
"It became quite a cathartic process," she said. "It was an outlet to deal with that.
"It was definitely for him but also for me and the people around me who supported me this year."
Josie had already received early offers from the University of Newcastle to study a Bachelor of Arts and the ANU to study a double degree of Bachelor of Art History and Curatorship and a Bachelor of Asian Studies.
But after receiving her results, Josie was offered an AAA scholarship from UNSW to study a Bachelor of Art and International Studies, which was her first preference.
Josie was one of two students from St Joseph's Catholic College who made the Top Achievers list in what is only the school's second year to complete the HSC since it went back to being 7-12 last year.
Jorja-Louise Howard finished ninth in the state in Industrial Technology, achieving a final mark of 98.6.
She managed to complete her major work - an entry hall table - while dealing with a broken arm for eight weeks and being rear-ended while driving the day before it was due.
Jorja was the only female who studied the subject at her school, but had her heart set on woodwork from a younger age.
"In year eight I used timber and I absolutely fell in love with it," she said. "I also grew up building things with dad."
The 18-year-old also received a band six mark in Construction.
She has been accepted into criminal studies courses at three different university campuses, but thinks she will take up and potentially defer the offer she received at Newcastle, while she works in landscaping.
She plans to eventually enter into the police force before going into forensics or detective work and finally coming back to woodwork and becoming a Technological and applied studies (TAS) teacher.
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