Top scholar happy to mix work and play

By ELIZABETH BINNING and THERESA GARNER

The secret to Julie Jang's success is simple - she has found the perfect balance between work and play.

The 18-year-old Hamiltonian has just been named the country's top all-round female scholar and she attributes it to hard work while still allowing time for fun.

"I have always worked hard and achieved really well since third form ... but I don't study every hour or anything. I balance things."

At Sacred Heart Girls' College in Hamilton Julie worked hard, studying Japanese, physics, calculus, statistics and accounting. She represented her peers as treasurer on the student council, was an orchestra prefect, played the flute for the school orchestra and composed her own music, which now appears on two CDs.

But she also allowed herself plenty of time for watching television, movies, listening to music and being with her friends.

And as a result Julie succeeded in gaining over 90 per cent in each of her bursary subjects - and the top female scholar award for 2002.

This year she is at Auckland University studying engineering, which she hopes will lead to a career in the software industry.

The bubbly student, who immigrated from South Korea eight years ago, is continuing with her successful philosophy on work and play.

"My friends and I enjoy going to movies. I watch television, listen to music and do everything that I want to do because that's how I get the urge to want to study. If you study all the time it gets a bit boring.

"I'm not a genius but I get stuff pretty quickly. I work hard and like setting goals and achieving them because I don't like falling behind. That want to achieve is what makes me do so well."

Julie says she was surprised but honoured to be named top all-round female scholar.

"It was unexpected. I was packing my bag [to move to Auckland] with my mum and we were really surprised and both cried. It all comes down to the fact that I had really wonderful parents who decided to raise me here."

The top all-round male scholar surprised himself with his all-round ability after picking up one of his top marks in history.

Peter Shiu Cheung Lau, of Mt Roskill Grammar in Auckland, scored an average of 94 per cent in his top five exams. His top mark was 96 in chemistry, but he also scored 93 per cent in history, a subject he took for the first time last year.

Now an expert on Tudor England, his other subjects were chemistry, biology, maths with calculus, maths with statistics, and Japanese. Peter scored an A+ in a university stage 1 maths paper at the same time.

Despite his heavy workload, he did not study all the time either.

"People come up and say 'you must study 10 hours a day', which is definitely not true."

He was also a prefect, sat on the student council, played the violin, and was in the debating squad. He says he spends most of his spare time working on hobby electronic projects and "mucking around with pieces of junk".

Peter, who came to New Zealand from Hong Kong with his family 10 years ago, is now studying electrical engineering at Auckland University.

The top students will receive their scholarship prizes of $8000 in a ceremony at Government House next month.

2002 Bursaries

* 27,800 students sat exams in 29 subjects ranging from 13,500 sitting English to 47 sitting Latin.

* Subject awards for top scholars were evenly divided between girls and boys.

* Five schools had more than one top scholar: Auckland Grammar School (4), Rangitoto College (3), Hillcrest High School, Hamilton (3), Mt Roskill Grammar School (2), Burnside High School, Christchurch (2).

Top secondary scholars

Top Male Scholar - Peter Shiu Cheung Lau, Mt Roskill Grammar, Auckland.

Top Female Scholar - Julie Chang, Sacred Heart Girls' College, Hamilton.

Top Male Maori Scholar - Michael Walmsley, Church College of New Zealand, Hamilton.

Top Female Maori Scholar - Debbie Lee Wong, Rangitoto College, North Shore City.

Top Male Pacific Island Scholar (joint) - Stallone Quaver Sini Vaiaoga-loasa and Shekhar Sehgal, Auckland Grammar School.

Top Female Pacific Island Scholar - Nidhie Kumar, Melville High School, Hamilton.

Accounting - Chi Ho Ricky Kwok, Hillcrest High School, Hamilton.

Agriculture and Horticulture - Lisa McCarthy, Motueka High School, Motueka.

Biology - Kevin Chich Yao Huang, Rangitoto College.

Chemistry - Richard Yu, King's College, Auckland.

Chinese (second language) - Janet Kam Leng Drake, Burnside High School, Christchurch.

Classical Studies - Naomi Bergin, Carmel College, North Shore City.

Design - Poppie Pack, St Cuthbert's College, Auckland.

Economics - Jafar Ahmed, Mt Albert Grammar School, Auckland.

English - James McNamara, Wellington College.

French (second language) - Martin Bax, Mt Roskill Grammar.

Geography - Victoria Mollard, Howick College, Manukau City.

German (second language) - Irene Klymchuk, Hillcrest High School.

Graphics - Chia-Hao (David) Lin, Macleans College, Manukau City.

History - Hazel Swainson, Gisborne Girls' High School.

History of Art - Linda Pei-Lin Yang, Rangitoto College.

Japanese (second language) - Tokushu Inamura, Auckland Grammar School.

Latin - Imogen Restall, Diocesan School for Girls, Auckland.

Mathematics with Calculus - Yu-Chi Liu, Burnside High School, Christchurch.

Mathematics with Statistics - Simon Murphy,

Palmerston North Boys' High School.

Music - Jae-Yeon Jenny Kim, Riccarton High School, Christchurch.

Painting - David Rust, St Mary's College, Auckland.

Photography - Deanna Didovich, Baradene College of the Sacred Heart, Auckland.

Physical Education - Christopher Shaw, The Senior College of New Zealand, Auckland.

Physics - Akar Ashrafi, Auckland Grammar School.

Printmaking - Emma Lind, St Cuthbert's College, Auckland.

Science - Deborah Simpson, Selwyn College, Auckland.

Sculpture - Judith Carnaby, Lincoln High School, Christchurch.

Spanish (second language) - Katharine Garden, Thames High School.