Syrian Refugee Graduates As Dux Of Major Catholic School With An ATAR of 96.65

Syrian refugee Saad Al-Kassab has graduated as dux of one of Australia’s largest Catholic high schools; he scored an amazing 96.65 on his VCE.

Saad Al-Kassab fled the embattled city of Homs in 2013, when the civil war in Syria had claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Just a few years later, he has been celebrated as dux of Catholic Regional College Sydenham, in Melbourne’s north-west.

“To be honest, I was expecting a high score, but it felt so good to see it,” he told the ABC.

Saad used to study at home with his mother while sheltering from mortars and airstrikes, says the ABC. He would travel kilometres through checkpoints to makeshift exam centres when schools closed down.

When he arrived in Australia in June of 2014, Saad began watching Question Time in Parliament with his brother, Omar. Saad also joined a Scouts group to develop his English comprehension.

Monash University has already offered Saad a scholarship; he hopes to study biomedicine or medicine.

Though enrolling in Australian schools was hard on account of Saad’s English skills, he persisted and within about four months began to see great results.

“I’m really grateful for being given the opportunity to be able to come to Australia and study here,” he said. “I was given a new life.”