AUSMAT Virtual High Achievers’ Awards Ceremony 2021

Sunway College’s Australian Matriculation (AUSMAT) programme has been known for some time now as an academic accolade powerhouse, and 2020 was no different.

Despite the year that will live on in infamy, AUSMAT students rose to, above, and beyond the challenge. Close to 500 awards were bestowed upon AUSMAT’s class of 2020, including Special Subject Awards and book prizes from the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA), Government Western Australia, and many prestigious Australian universities.

Echoing the cohort’s year of online courses, this year marked the first-ever Virtual High Achiever’s Awards Ceremony, streaming via Youtube Premiere with live chat enabled. Featuring online speeches and messages from Ms. Fiona Morris (Education and Science Counsellor with the Australian High Commission), Mr. Allan Blagaich (Executive Director of the School Council Standard Authority), Professor Elizabeth Lee (Chief Executive Officer of Sunway Education Group), and others, joined by an international audience with viewers from all over Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, and Indonesia, the event was as lively as any of its previous face-to-face predecessors.

Cheah Jun Yan, valedictorian of the class of 2020, delivered his speech over webcam, as he virtually received his numerous awards including the Jeffrey Cheah Special Entrance Scholarship and a book prize from Victoria University. Notable also among the awardees was Ng Kah Lok, who received the Special Subject Award in English as an Additional Language or Dialect, which is awarded to the single candidate in a year who obtained the highest examination mark in a Year 12 ATAR course. Ng also was a recipient of the Special Subject certificate of Excellence in the subject, awarded to the top 0.5% of candidates in a particular ATAR course. A host of other awards followed, including an outstanding 210 students receiving the Sunway ACE Scholarship for their ATAR 90 and above scores, which put them in the top 10% of WACE scorers worldwide.

All in all, 358 candidates of the class of 2020 attained an ATAR of 80 and above, placing them in the top 20% of WACE candidates worldwide. Of those, 20 students received Special Certificates of Achievement, 11 received Special Subject Awards and Certificates of Excellence by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority of the Government of Western Australia, and 16 subject top scorers at AUSMAT (SCKL).

As the emcees drew the ceremony to a close, thanking the proud parents, distinguished guests, and student awardees, Ms. Vanitha Satchithanadan, Assistant Director of Pre-University Studies, Sunway College, and Director of Programme, AUSMAT, concluded the virtual event, lauding the graduates’ achievements and exhorting them to be the leaders of change that the world sorely needs.