From the Students

Year 12 Interview

As the end of schooling is drawing closer and closer for our Year 12s, we sat down with four students to talk to them about their experiences at school, plans for the future and any advice they have for their younger school mates. 

Please meet Mikaela, Anton W, Kristian C and Cloud V!

How are you feeling about Year 12? 

Mikaela: Stressed! Um, look, year 12 is year 12. Considering as well, I think I'm the only one not doing an art based subject. So all of my subjects are pretty academic. Yep, it's stressful for me, but I'm sure it's stressful for you guys as well. 

Anton: Yeah. I'm really sleep deprived. 

Cloud: Yep. Definitely. Very confused about everything! 

Kristian: It’s been stressful.

What subjects do you have?  

Mikaela: My subjects are biology, general maths, legal, food studies, and English. 

Anton: I've got legal studies, English, general maths, media, creative arts. I've got 2 folio subjects. 

Cloud: Um, I have, like, English, general maths, visual communication and design, art creative practice, and PE. 

Kristian: I've got English, physics, math methods, visual communication and design and media. 

What is your favourite subject? 

Mikaela: Oh, I know for me, legal studies is my most stressful, but one of my favourite subjects. The teacher is really good!

Anton: The same. Yeah. I like Legal as well because the teacher (Jesse Melnick) is good. 

It's definitely my most stressful class too though. I enjoy the content the most. And like when I think about going to uni, law is what I think about the most.  

Cloud: Um, I'd say the, um, the art courses, especially art creative practice. Yeah, not only, like, focus on the technical focus or the personal aspect of art and all that. 

Kristian: Well, I definitely like my creative subjects, like VISCOM and media because it kind of just can do what I wanna do. But definitely the most stressful ones I have because there's just so much to do. 

What do you want to do when you finish Year 12? 

Anton: I want to do Law next year. I have a few options for Uni’s but it depends on my ATAR score.

Kristian: I wanna go to architecture. 

Mikaela: Um, my end goal is to be a paramedic, but next year, I'm going to do a nursing degree. 

Cloud: Um, going for a game design degree, hoping to become a concept artist. 

Do you have any contingency plans if your ATAR isn’t what you are hoping for? 

Mikaela: I do. Um, if I don't get the ATAR needed for university Yeah. I will be attending the Gordon, hopefully, to do a diploma of nursing then go to Deakin afterwards.

Cloud: Maybe I'll go into a TAFE course. Any TAFE course is fine and then maybe work on an art portfolio for an employer. 

Anton: Because law is a pretty high ATAR requirement for universities and stuff. I've got low end ATAR options for some of the creative art classes and stuff like that. 

Kristian: I enjoy doing art and being creative. If, unfortunately, I don't get the ATAR I'm looking for, I always have options in, like, creative fields I can go into. But, lucky for me, my uni courses don't require very high ATARs. Whether it's like, a 60 or something for a couple of them or a folio for architecture. But if I couldn't get into uni, I have alternate pathways like the Gordon or another TAFE, which let me go into uni after a couple years.

How has the year been for you? 

Cloud: I really like the, um, the earlier parts of this year, especially the camp parts. 

Mikaela: Because they were the less stressful times!

Cloud: But we only have 50 days left. 50 days! 

Mikaela: 50 days until our English exam though!

Anton: Which sounds the start of the rest of the Exams.

How many exams do you have and how are they spaced out? 

Mikaela: We have 1 for each of our classes unless you're doing a maths subject, and then you'll have a part 1 and part 2 of that subject. So for all 4 of us, we've got 6 exams in total. 

I've got biology and my first general maths exam on the same day. 

My first three exams are all really close together. Yeah. And then the rest of them are spaced out by a week. My last exam is the last exam – which is Food Studies 

Anton: I think I got lucky. All of mine are at least like 2 days spaced apart. So I have a lot of spare time on mine. 

Exams start on the 29th of October and end on the 18th November. 

What happens after Exams?

Kristian: We have around a month before everyone else finishes school so we will have our Formal and stuff. 

Mikaela: Our Muck-Up Day is a couple of days before Exams start. 

This year some of the year twelves have really pushed for a formal instead of just a grad dinner and then we have the awards day. We're doing a grad night and, like, grad dinner and formal on the same night. Then we would go back for our rewards day. So we're all pretty stoked about that as well. 

What's happening for Muck-Up day?

Mikaela: That is a question mark! Like, we haven't been told what we're not allowed to do, but, like, we also haven't been told what our limits are. 

Yeah. I may or may not have some ideas but I'm not sharing!

Anton: Last year, they put packaging peanuts everywhere in all the classrooms. 

Mikaela: And beanbag beans through the classrooms. In the year 9 and 10 building, I think they put shaving foam and silly string on lockers. Some of the VM kids silly stringed one of the teacher's cars. But the teacher thought it was funny!

Cloud: They also flipped the all the tables in the rooms and stole the door handles. 

Mikaela: But we can tell you that we have chosen a theme for our costumes. But the actual costumes are a surprise. The theme is media characters, so, like, across books and movies and TV shows. We made it more broad than previous years.

Cloud: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's been, like, you know, spoken amongst the year twelves and the year levels. Surely half the school actually already knows about the theme so it’s ok. 

What are you looking forward to the end of the year? 

Anton: Sleep! 

Kristian: Obviously, just doing whatever I want instead of what I have to do for school. 13 years of school has drained me a lot. 

Mikaela: Freedom! It's a massive slog. 14 years is draining

Cloud: Oh, gosh. Yeah. I can feel the breath of fresh air! I leave the school for all of eternity. 

Anton: Yep. The day that we get our graduation certificates, we're finally free. 

Kristian: I'm thinking of like working, like, during my break so I can get like funding especially since my degree is like heavy on, like, technical devices.  

I think I'll just I'll spend at least the 1st month just recovering. Recovery. There's so much you have to do so quickly, especially like when you pick your subjects and stuff, you know, going into it like this is a lot. 

Do you have any advice for students entering VCE or VM? 

Anton: Enjoy it. Especially, even in VCE, people are always saying like VCE is study, study, study. You lose a lot of your own time. The holidays aren't yours anymore. All that stuff. I think it's important to still just spend time to enjoy it. 

Have I definitely fallen behind in classes because I didn't do stuff when I should have? Yeah. But I don't regret it because inevitably I'll catch up anyway. It's about taking the time for yourself. Uh, making sure you're okay and just really enjoying things because it doesn't last forever. 

Mikaela: Maybe, like, you know, have friends along the way. I reckon I know for me; I've struggled a lot with friendships this year. I would just say surround yourself with people you know, no matter what you do, no matter what you say will stick with you. Even if they do not like your opinion. If they stick with you, they're a good friend. 

It's like always good to, like, talk to your friends, like, whenever you need to or just, like, have people there around you that you can, like, separate yourself from school. 

Kristian: Outside of schools, you want to, like, prioritize yourself alongside your work, not just your work. If you need some time off, take some time off. You need to have a break, you know, enjoy yourself for a little bit. 

Cloud: Uh, I'd say my only one advice is, like, I know, like, you're gonna be confused, throughout the whole year, but I want you to focus on something that you're really passionate about, and help your friends along the way to support them and they will support you, which is, like, you know, a really nice relationship with to have. 

Kristian: Yeah. I think, you know, at the end of the road, the life's gonna be nice. You're not gonna do, like, you know, 12 hours of goddamn VCE every night. So no Physics. No more Physics! 

Thank you, Anton, Cloud, Kristian and Mikaela, for sharing your experienced with us! 

If this has raised any concerns for you, or you would like to talk to someone, you can always speak to:

• Teachers
• Wellbeing Team
• Another trusted adult

There are also other places that can help to support your mental health and wellbeing at:

• eHeadspace (9am-1am), online chat or phone call.
• Lifeline (24/7), call 13 11 14.