Public school students win top education honour

Two outstanding public school graduates — one set on joining the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the other who hopes to pursue studies in mathematics — have been named best in the state after taking home Western Australia’s peak education award.

Ethan Yap, from Perth Modern School, was awarded the Beazley Medal: Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE), while Kent Street Senior High School’s Kevin Castle was named the recipient of the Beazley Medal: Vocational Education and Training (VET). 

The Beazley Medals are awarded annually to the top Year 12 WACE and VET student. 

It recognises individual excellence at the end of Year 12 and is the highest honour a senior secondary student in WA can receive.  

VET winner Kevin was a part of Kent Street’s aviation specialist program. 

Along with the Beazley Medal, he also received a VET Exhibition award in Automotive, Engineering and Logistics, and has a Certificate II Aeroskills qualification. 

While completing his Certificate II in Aeroskills, Kevin completed a significant number of hours in the workplace, preparing him for his future.  

He said he was overwhelmed with his achievement. 

“My family and I were absolutely shellshocked. We couldn’t believe it at all. We were all over the moon about it. It was truly an honourable experience,” he said. 

“(My family) were everything. They were my number one supporters, my number one believers. They knew I could always do something big.” 

Kevin said his dream was to join the Royal Flying Doctor Service. 

“It will be absolutely amazing if I am able to become an apprentice aircraft mechanic with RFDS. That truly is my goal for the future,” he said. 

Reflecting on his achievement, Kevin encouraged other students heading into Years 11 and 12 to always try their best.  

“I'd say one of my tips for people going into secondary school is always make sure you submit your work to the best of your abilities. That's definitely what helped me,” he said.  

“Even if you don't like the work, if it's boring, if you don't like the subject, always make sure you submit the work to the absolute best you can. That's what I recommend.” 

WACE recipient Ethan studied physics, mathematics methods, mathematics specialist, economics, chemistry, Japanese, and literature in Year 12.

He was also awarded a General Exhibition award, a Subject Exhibition award, Subject Certificates of Excellence, and a Certificate of Distinction. 

Ethan, who was the 2024 Dux of Perth Modern and received consistent A grades across Years 11 and 12, said he was overjoyed.  

“I am really honoured to be the recipient of the Beazley Medal for WACE this year,” he said. 

“My immediate reaction was like complete disbelief. I really thought, oh, is this a prank? 

“It was really good to see my hard work pay off, but I was also not expecting it either, it’s just a great honour to be here.  

“I'm just grateful I've had such good support from my parents as well. They've taken care of me through high school and they're great role models.” 

Ethan credits his success to having dedicated study plans and ensuring he set aside time for hobbies such as badminton. 

“I just tried to manage my studies quite well. I studied in blocks. I always had a weekly plan and a daily plan,” he said. 

“I did a lot of extracurriculars in my last year as well.  

“Initially I thought, oh, I'm going to drop everything just to study, but I'm really glad I didn't because the hobbies really helped me alleviate some of the stress and it's a good balance.  

“And I find I was more focused when, after a break, my hobbies, I could get back into studying.” 

Ethan plans to study mathematics and computer science at university and is open to exploring a career in academia and research.

“For me, mathematics is really interesting because there are so many areas to explore,” he said. 

“There are a lot of interesting patterns and I really think the people at the frontier of the field are really doing something very innovative because they have to be so creative and also dedicated to their study to find new results and discover new things so I really want to be a part of that.” 

Since completing his studies, Ethan said he was focusing on learning life skills. 

“I've been doing a lot of cooking. I also have been doing a lot of driving as well, although I'm not so good at driving,” he said. 

“My mum always tells me to stop trying to calculate the forces on the car and pay attention to the roundabout.” 

The Beazley Medal is named after Kim Edward Beazley AO, who was a teacher and Federal Education Minister.