They have the same name, achieved similar study scores and were both ranked within the top 2 per cent of the state this year.
Less than 30 kilometres separate the homes of two strangers with the name Anna Langford.
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VCE 2016: The tale of two Anna Langfords
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Both Anna Langford and Anna Langford never knew the other existed until the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) results came out this week.
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VCE 2016: The tale of two Anna Langfords
Both Anna Langford and Anna Langford never knew the other existed until the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) results came out this week.
Anna Elizabeth Langford, who will henceforth be referred to as Elizabeth, was the dux this year at Presbyterian Ladies' College, achieving an ATAR of 99.8 and a perfect score in English.
The aspiring medical student from Clayton admits she was "aiming high", and after pausing to think about how she felt about her rank, she concluded resolutely: "Overall, I achieved what I wanted to."
Around the same time on Monday morning in Northcote, Anna Sophia Langford, who we will call Sophia, was logging into the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) website to check her marks.
She was hoping for an ATAR of 88 at the very least to secure her enrolment in a bachelor of arts at Melbourne University, but discovered she was ranked 98.35. She topped her year level in two subjects at Northcote High School.
"My highest hopes were for 92 or 93 ... I was astonished," Sophia said.
Just 24 hours later, the two Annas were again in disbelief as they met each other in a park in Malvern, an experience that Elizabeth described as "weird, but a good weird".
Putting aside the near identical academic record (both scored above 40 in every subject) the Annas have taken different roads throughout their schooling.
Member of a dressmaking club, Elizabeth sews in her spare time (she has made six dresses, jackets and pyjama pants) and plays hockey and netball.
Elizabeth's sewing inspired her to learn about fashion in her VCE Art subject, where she analysed the haunting and extravagant work of designer Alexander McQueen.
Sophia, a Friends of the Earth volunteer, spent the past three years hosting rallies in the city and festival stalls in a (successful) campaign to ban fracking in Victoria. She missed two days of school in May to take part in Newcastle's biggest anti-coal protest.
"I felt this year should prepare me for my future but climate change will be an issue that will dominate for whole life," said Sophia. "So how can I prepare for my future if I don't stop this massive crisis?"
Where Elizabeth blitzed Mathematical Methods, Specialist Mathematics and Chemistry this year, Sophia favoured humanities subjects, choosing Australian History, Literature and Global Politics.
Yet their interests appear to have aligned with a newly discovered joy in studying literary texts.
Elizabeth loved Gwen Harwood's poetry, describing Nightfall, part two of Father and Child, as a "particularly beautiful" piece about the "transience of life and the acknowledgement of death".
Sophia, who was urged to study literature by her mother, eventually discovered the joy of Jane Austen's "wit and irony and her incredible writing techniques".
For now, though, it appears the students will continue down different paths.
As Elizabeth holidays in Mount Martha with her family before (hopefully) starting her medical degree at Monash University next year, Sophia will take a gap year to trek in Nepal, and take long walks through parts of Europe and the UK.
The tale of two Annas follows a related eerie coincidence two years ago.
Around this time in 2014, a year 12 graduate from Sophia's school, Northcote High, achieved a rank of 99.55 – a similar result to a student who also had the same name, living a few suburbs away.
Northcote High's Richard Ruichen Yan achieved an ATAR of 99.55, the same year as a student at Scotch College (the brother school of Elizabeth's school, PLC) Richard Yongxin Yan, was ranked 99.95.