"We all live literally on top of each other. It makes days like today nice and easy, because I get to go home and see all of them at the same time."
Malaz seen two years ago at Collingwood College, which she attended since kindergarten. Credit:Jason South
Her relatives will be celebrating – Malaz is the first person in her family to go on to tertiary education, having achieved an ATAR of 97.35. She is confident she will be able to study at Melbourne University.
Malaz has lived in Collingwood, in Melbourne's inner-east, all her life. Her mother is a childcare worker and her father runs his own jewellery business.
She attended state school Collingwood College since kindergarten and celebrated her score at school on Thursday with the teachers she's had since year 7.
"It’s genuinely my home. Since I’ve been there so long, you get to know everyone: people who are in and out of school, classmates."
Her desire to work in criminal law doesn't come from CSI or true-crime podcasts.
"I guess I’ve lived in an area where, for example, there’s a lot of people who have issues with drugs and alcohol," she says.
"In year 10 I did work experience with Fitzroy Legal Service. We went to a neighbourhood justice centre and ... the reoccuring issue was they [the court] weren't rehabilitating people, they weren't giving them opportunities to stop coming back."
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This year, while her 16-year-old brother worked part-time at McDonald's – the same one Malaz previously worked at – she committed to an average of five hours post-school study every day, boosted by her scholarship from the Skyline Foundation.
Malaz says she had forgotten simple things like seeing workmates and fronting up for shifts. They're simple pleasures, she now realises.
"It’s a really, really, really, stressful year," she says.
"I know I’ve been really lucky because I’ve been doing tests and exams like this since year 9, but some of my friends haven’t. Ahead of knowledge and skills, it’s testing whether someone can sit in a room for 3½ hours, and for some people that’s really difficult.
"If I could have it my way, the exams wouldn’t exist; you’d find some other way to test students."
Michael is a reporter for The Age.
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