Jolie reveals secret to success

“I’VE always been obsessed with school and I’ve always pushed myself and challenged myself.”

That is how Tenison Woods College Dux, and top student in the Limestone Coast, Jolie Vaughan summarises her schooling life which finished with a bang as she achieved a 98.85 ATAR – a ticket to a diverse array of career opportunities.

In the hours since achieving the top score, Jolie did start mulling over alternate career options but in the past two years, speech pathology has really captured her attention and that is still very much Plan A.

“I really wanted to get at least 95 – I wasn’t looking for a specific score that I needed but just to do the best I could,” Jolie said. “It was just a personal goal to push myself and to leave doors open if I ever need it.

“Initially I was relieved to know all my hard work had paid off.”

So after working her hospitality job at Presto and Little Presto over summer and a holiday to Japan, Jolie is headed to Adelaide to study Speech Pathology at Adelaide University in 2026, where she will be living at Aquinas College as she takes the next step in her academic journey.

“I have done some work experience with a local speech pathologist and I really enjoyed it,” Jolie said. “It also seemed like a really good work-life balance and I think that is really important.”

To look into the detail of Jolie’s ATAR is to see a picture of someone who really could not have done any better.

She received a merit (A+) for English, a result she said was in no small part to her teacher and was the only student at Tenison and in the region to secure straight As – all seven of her subjects received that top grade.

In 2026, that was Biology, Chemistry, English, Psychology, Religion, with Jolie completing Meaning, Activating Identities and Futures (formerly known as research project), and Mathematical Methods.

“My teachers were 100 per cent helpful,” Jolie said, who also took advantage of the Adelaide based Tuition Centre, as well as come online resources, to supplement her classroom lessons.

“It was very helpful to get the perspective from other teachers and I would really recommend it,” she said.

And while she concedes she has always been an organised student, with good time management, Jolie also highly recommends staying on top of your workload and avoid leaving things to the last minute.

“I actually found the workload in Year 11 more, because there were more subjects, but I did find I could easily stay on top of my workload throughout Year 12,” she said.

Jolie did step away from a 13 year dance career at Hype Dance to concentrate on her studies but maintained a solid work life after school and weekends – proof of her time management skills – as was her tutoring of three Year 9 students in maths.

She is now looking forward to residential college life and the chance to meet new people as she starts the next chapter in her high-achieving life.