A year 9 student from Harrisdale Senior High School has aced the 2024 Australian Geography Competition, taking out the top rank in the state for his age.
The Australia-wide competition, held in May, is open to all students in years 7 to 12, and assesses their geographical knowledge and skills, and rewards excellence.
Over 54,000 students from 600 schools across Australia entered this year’s competition.
Harrisdale Senior High’s Mihin Henkanaththegedara received the highest score in Western Australia for his year level, and was the only year 9 prize winner in Australia to hail from a public school.
“I’ve always loved looking at maps and learning about and visiting new places, so the AGC was an amazing opportunity for me to apply and further my skills. It was amazing when I won first in WA and I was very proud to represent Harrisdale Senior High School,” Mihin said.
In fact, Harrisdale Senior High as a whole kicked major goals in this year’s competition.
“We have a number of student geographers at our school who performed to a very high level in the competition this year, with 21 students gaining high distinctions, and 26 students achieving distinctions,” Head of Humanities and Social Sciences Luke Radaich said.
Harrisdale Senior High School set itself a goal of becoming a ‘school of excellence’ when it opened in 2017.
In 2021, it introduced a Gifted and Talented Education program at the school – Mihin’s talent is currently being nurtured through this program.
And it was named as one the state’s top performing schools for Year 12 achievements in 2023.
The recent Australian Geography Competition results align perfectly with the school’s growing success story.
“As a Gifted and Talented teacher, I believe that education should be engaging and relevant to each student coming through my door. The use of real-world applications and the development of skills are key to my classes’ success,” GATE teacher Joshua Van Breukelen said.
