Michael
Coming to Marden
I wanted to return to school because I knew I was capable of more after receiving my first ATAR result of 50.85 in 2011. The first time I attempted year 12 I had little direction, motivation and determination to do well. Therefore, it took me a year out of school to really appreciate the benefits behind doing well in school while finding some direction in my life.
This is why I chose to repeat Year 12 at Marden. It was, and still is a flexible and friendly work environment where you are treated like an adult with regards to achieving your own goals whilst always offering you the help to achieve them.
Experience at Marden Senior College
When I first arrived at Marden I was terribly nervous about repeating Year 12 and often wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew. However, it became obvious that your potential to succeed was unbound if you were willing to dedicate yourself towards achieving your goals. With the fantastic assistance I received from my teachers, I was able to pursue my ambitions in a mature and independent manner but was always able to find assistance along the way. What I loved about Marden were all the individuals I met along the way who were all there to further their education. This made making friends easy and created strong bonds which I still share with my friends from Marden today.
When I graduated I received the ‘Best All Rounder’ award and a new ATAR of 97.80. The year I spent at Marden was one of the greatest investments of my life and I would strongly encourage anyone to pursue the same path. Marden represented a life changing step for which I will always be grateful.
Achievements to date
Since then I have gone on to complete a Bachelor of Medical Science (IBMS) at the University of South Australia and have just received an offer to undertake an honours program at Flinders University studying viral metabolomics at the new Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer Research (FCIC). Looking forward, I’m hoping to gain entry into postgraduate medicine.
