Double accolades
“MY time in the (Australian Matriculation) AUSMAT programme has nurtured me to never give up easily and always strive to reach my fullest potential. It has also reminded me that hard work will always take you further than luck ever will,” said 19-year-old Vilashini Saravanan who achieved Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) 99 in the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) 2016 examination.
What Vilashini found most interesting about the AUSMAT programme was the dedication of all the lecturers, citing Giita Silverajah as her favourite lecturer.
“She was my Chemistry lecturer and by far the most dedicated person I have ever met. She motivated and guided me to achieve greatness in all my subjects,” she said.
Vilashini is currently pursuing a four-year Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) programme at International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur.
She aspires to one day start her own pharmaceutical company and be able to supply medication to women who cannot afford them.
Completing the AUSMAT together with Vilashini was her twin sister Vanashri, who achieved ATAR 98.6 in the WACE 2016 examination.
Vanashri said: “I always lived by the same principle since I was 10 – you get what you work for and that I did. I am especially happy to have made my mom proud, she’s worked so hard for me her whole life, it’s the least I could do to repay her.”
Like her sister, Vanashri also found her lecturers amazing and also cites Giita as her favourite lecturer.
“She’s absolutely wonderful. She really cares about her students and is amazing at Chemistry. One can really tell she enjoys the subject and also enjoys teaching it. She is my role model without question,” she said.
For Vanashri, her time in the AUSMAT has helped her discover herself.
“I have grown in the AUSMAT. It is not like high school where every little thing was planned for you – you discover a part of yourself, learn so much about different types of people and the art of adaptation,” she said.
Vanashri is currently enrolled in Penang International Dental College in a five-year Bachelor of Dental Surgery programme and looks forward to her twinning experience in India.
Vanashri finds having a twin sister a definite blessing, “I always have a built-in support system – she is my main source of motivation and closest confidant.”
She hopes to be the best in the field, either in orthodontics or periodontics, and be able to open her own practice one day. Vanashri’s most important takeaway from the AUSMAT programme is to work hard and help people along the way.
For Vilashini, her sister is the best birthday gift she could have asked for, “She drives me to be my best self and it has been a blessing to have someone constantly there by my side.”
Sharing the achievements of Vilashini and Vanashri was their mother Sakthi Nagendra.
“I am really proud of my daughters. They are both very hardworking and dedicated. This has made them high achievers from a young age. It’s a running joke at home that I am probably the only mother asking my children to stop studying and go out with me,” she said.
Sakthi commented that her daughters became more independent and self-reliant during their time at Sunway College.
The Australian Matriculation programme at Sunway College is well known for its strong pastoral component. The programme aims to nurture wholesome individuals through personalised learning and growth, preparing students for university life and studies.
In the course of the programme, students are challenged to take multiple approaches to problem solving and critical thinking, nurturing their overall cognitive development.
Sunway College Kuala Lumpur is the largest and longest running provider of the AUSMAT programme in Malaysia and with School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) as its partner, continuously ensures that standards of the AUSMAT programme is consistent to that of schools in Western Australian.
The Sunway College AUSMAT programme offers a flexible combination of diverse subjects encompassing Science, Mathematics, Psychology and Business Management. It prepares students for WACE, which is recognised and widely accepted by universities in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Russia, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, and private universities and university colleges in Malaysia.
The Australian Matriculation programme is one of six pre-university programmes offered at Sunway College.
■ For more information about the programme, call 03-7491 8622 or e-mail info@sunway.edu.my or log on to http://sunway.edu.my/college/ ausmat. Alternatively, drop by the campus on Dec 16 and 17 from 10am to 4pm for the Sunway Education Open Day.