ANNABELLE Pickersgill received an excellent ATAR score of 94.95.
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But what makes her achievement even more remarkable is she did it while looking after her now two-year-old son Jordan and struggling with post-natal depression.
After Jordan was born in October 2012, the then 16-year-old wanted to drop out of high school, but her parents convinced her to continue her education at Ballarat Clarendon College.
Last Monday, the hard work paid off, with Annabelle now hoping to get into her first preference, law at Monash University.
“I’m definitely very glad I finished,” she said.
“It was very hard but definitely worthwhile.”
Annabelle credits her family and school support for helping achieve her educational dreams.
Her parents took turns looking after Jordan while she was at school and her three younger sisters, Harriet, Beatrice and Daisy, helped with his care also.
Ballarat Clarendon College principal David Shepherd and school counsellor Dean Griffin also assured Annabelle they would provide every support to help her finish her VCE.
While pregnant, she was allowed to wear her school PE uniform and maternity clothes and, after the birth, her VCE was structured so she could do most of her homework in spare periods, leaving her free to spend time with Jordan after hours.
Annabelle stayed at school until she was 35 weeks pregnant and had all of term four of year 10 off but completed work at home.
However, she also suffered post-natal depression and eventually “fell in a massive heap”.
“I was too stressed out by it all. I had three of the four (PND) factors: the pregnancy was unplanned, I was a young age and I had a family history.
“I tried desperately to let mum and dad make me stop but they wanted me to do year 12. If they (my family) all hadn’t done as much as they have, I wouldn’t have finished school.”
Annabelle needed a score of 98 to guarantee her Monash law course but has already achieved last year’s “clearly in” score at Deakin University.
“As long as I can remember, I’ve never wanted to do anything else,” she said.
Annabelle said she also wanted to make a better life for herself and for Jordan, who spends one night a week with his father.
“Obviously, school’s not for everyone but it’s rewarding when you get to the end of it.”