Vadim Rudoi had long planned to come from Russia to Ballarat for his secondary schooling but COVID almost prevented his dreams from coming to fruition.
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In 2019, when Vadim was in year eight at school in Russia, Mr Rudoi and his father visited Ballarat and Mount Clear College to see where he might study.
His application was in when the pandemic hit and his plans were put on hold.
Mr Rudoi finally made it to Ballarat in 2022 - in time to start year 11.
Although he learned English intensively before moving to Ballarat, Mr Rudoi found "Aussie slang" hard to understand.
"After we decided to go to Australia I started learning English intensively," he said. "It's compulsory to learn English at school in Russia but it's not that intensive so I started with a private tutor."
It is a requirement for international students wanting to start their VCE to complete at least six months of intensive English classes.
"It helped me a lot because once I came here the first couple of weeks in my Australian school it was ok except adapting to spoken language, slang," he said. "When friends said something in slang I had to ask 'can you explain that?'."
The family chose Ballarat for Mr Rudoi to study in for several reasons - largely because they had family friends here who Mr Rudoi has lived with.
"Initially I came with my dad because I was under 18 and there was a requirement to come with my family or parent, and after that when I turned 18 my dad went back to Russia and I was staying with my host family," he said.
They also knew Mount Clear College had a strong international student program with good supports for those enrolled.
Before COVID struck, Mount Clear College had up to 46 international students and principal Jenny Bromley is keen to rebuild the program to have 20 to 30 international students enrolled.
Eight new international students are expected to start at the school in term three - three from Japan who will stay for a year to improve their English, and five who are coming with plans to study VCE to be able to access Australian universities.
Many students planning to study VCE come in their second half of year 10, so they can complete the 20 week intensive English course, or even in year nine.
The school is also seeing a big increase in short term international students and groups from Mount Clear College's sister schools coming on study tours to experience Australian life and education.
Ms Bromley said there was also a "new phase" of international students coming to study at the school for four to six weeks, who might be thinking of returning full-time to complete their VCE.
Mount Clear College and Ballarat High School are the only two government schools in the city accredited to host international students, with three current enrolments at Mount Clear and nine at Ballarat High. Several of the city's independent and catholic schools also host international students.
Mr Rudoi finished year 12 in 2023, as vice captain of the school, and enjoyed Mount Clear College so much that he has been working there this year in education support, while studying IT at Federation University.
Last month he changed roles to work with the IT company that supports the school's IT system, but is still based in the familiar surrounds of his old school.
"I picked Federation University because they have the Bachelor of Information Technology (Professional Practice) because it also has the three-year intensive internship with IBM ...and it's in Ballarat so I don't have to move to Melbourne or another state," he said.
Mr Rudoi said he had loved his studies at Mount Clear, with students keen to share their experiences and learn more about his background.
In May, Mr Rudoi received a commendation award for global citizenship in the state government's Victorian Global Learning Awards.
