HKDSE 2020 top scorers share their hopes for the future
- Seven students from Wah Yan College, Diocesan Girls’ School, Queen’s College and St Paul’s Co-Educational College achieved perfect scores on the exams
- Two teens say the Covid-19 pandemic inspired them to study medicine
Officials from Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) hold a press conference on announcement of DSE results. Photo: SCMP / Winson WongHung Chun, is Wah Yan College, Hong Kong’s first ever top scorer. In a video message, he paid tribute to his school’s atmosphere for learning, and his teachers, who guided him to become a lifelong learner.
Chun said he hopes to study medicine at the University of Hong Kong, a dream he has had since he was a young child, and inspired by a doctor who wasparticularly caring and supportive when had tonsillitis at primary school.
“My doctor made me realise that one of the most important things a doctor should do is to care for patients’ emotions – providing support and calming them down on top of physically curing their diseases,” he said.
The 18-year-old added that the Covid-19 pandemic had made him more determined to join the medical field.
“The [Covid-19] pandemic has also made me realise that medical practitioners [face] a lot of high risks … I think the pandemic [has tested] me, whether I could stick to my promise to help patients, instead of just looking for a stable job.”
Ivan Ng Ho-yu, Queen’s College’s top scorer, also plans to apply to study medicine at Hong Kong University, and wants to become a doctor to “give back to the community”.
Ivan Ng Ho-yu, 2020 DSE top scorer at Queen's College.
“Even though the pandemic situation is getting worse, I believe if Hongkongers unite, we can do anything,” he said in a video message. “Even in the shadow of the pandemic, we will eventually see the light.”
Diocesan Girls’ School’s two top scorers were Elena Yin Vermeer – who is also a “super top scorer” – and Eunice Chong Yan-ying.
Eunice, 18, is heading to the University of Cambridge to study human, social and political sciences. She said she hoped to work at the United Nations in policy making or research to “solve global environmental and social problems”.
Eunice Chong Yan-ying, top scorer at Diocesan Girls' School.
“I have always been passionate about pressing environmental issues like climate change, ecological destruction and resource depletion, as well as recurrent social problems including poverty, both among grassroot citizens in Hong Kong and globally,” she said.
Elena will be heading to the University of Oxford to study English language and literature, and hopes to contribute to society through education.
“Having benefitted from inspirational and supportive teachers, and having experienced many valuable educational opportunities in my 12 years at DGS, I have felt keenly the transformative power of education,” she said.
With regard to her unpredictable final school year, Elena said, “The social unrest and global pandemic definitely added unanticipated forms of stress, especially when the school suspension affected our mock exams, and when the DSEs were postponed.
“But I feel that these uncertainties helped me develop tenacity and perseverance, and taught me not to take things for granted, but to live by the adage ‘hope for the best; prepare for the worst’.”
Fewer students meet university entry requirements than last year
The three top scorers at St Paul’s Co-educational College, Lam Cheuk-wang, who is a super top scorer, Wong Chi-ngai and Lu Hiu-ching.
Of the St Paul’s crew, Cheuk-wang is hoping to head to the University of Cambridge to study engineering; Chi-ngai wants to study science at Chinese University; and Hiu-ching has yet to decide between medical school and law.