Physical disability was no impediment to Henry Kendall High School 2024 Year 12 graduate, Amelia Stevens, achieving academic and leadership success.

Amelia, who was diagnosed with a hearing impairment at an early age and uses a cochlear implant, showed incredible resilience to receive Band 6 marks in all her HSC courses, receiving the Distinguished Achiever award for each subject.

Henry Kendall High School principal Andrew Backhouse said this was an impressive reflection of her dedication and hard work throughout her high school journey.

“The former school prefect’s natural leadership and passion for community involvement has left a lasting impact and has been an inspiration to both her peers and teachers,” Mr Backhouse said.

“Amelia is frequently approached by younger students, who look up to her for her kindness, compassion, and humility.

“Her contributions extend beyond the classroom, as she has also been a long-term volunteer with St John’s Ambulance, demonstrating her commitment to helping others.”

Reflecting on her outstanding academic results, Amelia said she wasn’t expecting such a result but “it’s extremely validating”.

“The confirmation that my hard work was all for something in the end was overwhelming, and I’m so lucky to have been in a supportive environment when they came through,” Amelia said.

“The HSC was a challenge like no other, so it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders when the results came through – I cried.”

Amelia has long been an advocate for improving educational experiences for students with disabilities.

She said her own hearing impairment had meant that she often needed to put in extra effort to ensure she kept up with her studies.

“My hearing impairment means that in order to get the same amount out of my classes as other students, I often have to go back over the content in my free time, ask more questions, and so forth,” Amelia said.

“To achieve this, I have received the most incredible support from Hearing Australia and my itinerant hearing support (IST-H) teachers across the 13 years of my schooling.

“Not only that, Henry Kendall’s amazing student services team was consistently amazing, and I am so grateful for everyone that helped me along the way to ensure that in classes I was getting the same amount of education and learning my classmates were, without which I would have fallen behind and not have been able to do the extra work and effort at home that the HSC required.”

This year, Amelia is excited to pursue her passion for writing and education, with plans to study communications (writing and publishing) and secondary education (English and society and culture) at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).