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CAMERON Chandler is no stranger to the word “dux”.
The 18-year-old has just been awarded his sixth dux honour, a huge feat in his short academic journey to date and a great way to conclude his final year of high school at Christian College Institute of Senior Education.
After his family moved around a lot when he was younger, Cameron arrived at Christian College in year 4.
During his time at the school he has received countless awards and honours including dux of years 5, 8, 9, 10 and 11, adding his final year 12 honour last week upon receiving his ATAR results, in which he scored a 99.3.
Not only had Cameron consistently excelled in his studies he is also a talented athlete — having represented Australia in baseball in California — and is a gifted musician, playing guitar and percussion. All of these things combined meant he was a clear choice to become school captain this year and, despite the extra pressure, he relished the responsibility.
“When I entered the role, I had rightly estimated the scope and scale of the obligations and organisational tasks at hand, however, there was one thing I had not expected to be a big part of my position,” Cameron said.
“I found that leadership is all about relationships and ensuring that everyone feels valued.
“Despite the hard work, acting as captain was always worth my best effort for the incredible web of friendships that I created.”
During his younger years, Cameron was heavily interested in creative writing. Throughout his time at the school, during years 7-9, he was able to take writing workshops which enhanced his love for the craft.
“Even before school I took to writing stories and always believed that’s where my life would take me,” Cameron said.
“In year 6, I was named the Victorian Young Writer of the Year as well as winning other minor writing competitions, and that only encouraged my passion.”
In the last few years of his schooling Cameron found his interests shifting to more mathematical and sciencebased subjects. He is now eyeing off the possibly of studying science at the University of Melbourne next year.
“Throughout my primary and secondary education I always enjoyed maths and science because I found the work very accessible and intuitive, but I never knew that it could turn into a serious career,” he said.
“In January of this year, I was honoured to attend the National Youth Science Forum with generous support from the Rotary Club of Geelong.
“At this forum I was most interested to learn about the diverse career opportunities available in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths.”
On top of this, representatives from many universities across the country came to speak to the students.
“It was then that my heart became set on completing a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne, yet I did not know what to major in,” he said.
“This year, through my completion of two maths subjects, I found that I absolutely loved extracting meaning from numbers in the statistics coursework.
“This is how I stumbled across my current passion: data science.
“I feel that the ability to use the insane quantity of data that is being collected these days for the betterment of health- care, businesses and education is an amazing power.”
Cameron said the support given to him at the school had been instrumental in helping achieve all his feats, both in and out of the classroom.
With his academic, leadership, music and sporting commitments, Cameron still found his final year of school to be enjoyable.
He said the year was relatively consistent, experiencing a handful of spikes in stress.
He said others about to enter year 12 would benefit most by focusing on the present, instead of trying to think too far ahead.
“If I had any advice for bud- ding students who have no idea what they want to do, just as I didn’t, I would say that you don’t have to know where you’re going, you just have to keep going,” he said.
“I settled upon data science only after exploring all of the possibilities, and by taking every opportunity that came my way.
“I still maintain my other interests as well: playing guitar, and finding excuses to write.”
“I found that leadership is all about relationships and ensuring that everyone feels valued.”