It's been a good year to be an Emily, especially if you were sitting your final exams.
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The program for the ACT Board of Secondary Studies recognition of excellence ceremony was peppered with the moniker as a trio of Emilys took out top honours at the National Library of Australia yesterday.
![What's in a name? What's in a name?](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/3f5d3e9b-5172-4964-b9b2-68507d55b980.jpg/r0_0_729_486_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Among them was Emily Sargeson, who was being awarded for the community spirit she developed after more than a decade at Burgmann Anglican School.
''I've been at Burgmann my whole schooling life,'' she said. ''Community has always been a big thing for me ... I always wanted to be involved with mentoring, coaching.''
Emily said she had applied for several social work courses in her bid to end up on the World Vision workforce, but said she was also interested in studying photography.
''It's a very creative medium for me to express my opinions on poverty and such issues,'' she said.
Trinity Christian School's Emily Horsley was also awarded for community service, whereas Emily Buckley beat her Dickson College classmates to top the year academically.
Emily Buckley said, ''I was really privileged to have amazing teachers, so it didn't really feel like work when I went to school.
''The one piece of advice I was given was while the marks are important, it's also important to really enjoy your time. It was important to keep a balance, between working and doing other things like music, sport and spending time with family.''
Emily said she would balance her loves of music and biology next year, doing double studies at the Australian National University before choosing one career path.
''This way I get to put off deciding as long as possible,'' she said.
Emilys may have been out in force but a student by any other name could score just as high, as George Miris found out.
The Hawker College student topped his classmates with an ATAR of 99, which he hopes will allow him to study research development and engineering at the Australian National University next year.
''I'm looking forward to taking this next step,'' he said. ''The freedom of university is something I'm really going to enjoy, taking that step into the real world.''
The ceremony was the last for chairman of the board Stephen Parker, who encouraged students to continue learning well after their formal education was finished.
''As soon as they think you know something, you'll find that your knowledge is out of date,'' he said.
ACT Minister for Education and Training Chris Bourke was also in attendance yesterday, telling those gathered that the award recipients were ''the future of our territory and our nation''.
This reporter is on Twitter: @stephanieando