The ATAR calculates a student’s relative position in comparison with their peers and the state.

It does not measure the number of books read nor after-school study sessions attended.

Most students would have felt somewhere between satisfaction and ecstasy when receiving their ATAR.

Others would see the number as an immovable obstacle; an unexpected sink hole in a much anticipated road map.

During the collation of HSC results, Goulburn High School principal Paul Hogan responded with an invaluable comment about achievement and identified a truth many might forget: that achievement is not subject to the top tier result, but the journey of improvement.  

This is not to say that studying for a standardised system is fruitless, because there is much to say about a student’s ability to prioritise and dedicate time to school responsibilities. Instead, a greater focus should be put on how a student grows into a graduate.  

Among the excitement of new beginnings, a sadder, inevitable layer is shed. The reality is that a big chunk of the 173 students who completed their HSC in Goulburn this year will leave the city: their hometown of firsts may become be a ghost town of their past.

And do you blame them? 

To have no university or strong, youth-centric hub only feeds into the cyclical churn of graduates who come home on breaks and special occasions.

It is not the council’s fault, nor state or even federal government, but the entire community’s; we who should value the importance of young people in perpetuating community growth.

Our city’s foundations should not undermine nor be cornerstones of the future our youth will have to live in.

To those unsatisfied youth ‘fleeing’ in an attempt to find something bigger and better, a reminder: adventure is only relative to an individual’s perception of greatness. 

Success can be sought in between the fumes and fantasies of a big city, or recognised in the humble landscape of a beloved hometown.