Joe Mungovan, at his home in Kiama. Picture: DAVE TEASE
The Higher School Certificate is notoriously tough, but for musician Joe Mungovan the hard work will continue well after his final exam finishes this afternoon.
The Kiama High School student has excelled at singing, drumming and playing guitar at school and has been juggling HSC commitments with school performances, drumming in his band Tommy M and the Mastersounds and doing intense rehearsals.
And next week he will head to Parliament House in Canberra for the launch of national school music initiative Count Me In, where he will lead thousands of students from across Australia singing a song at the same time.
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"It's pretty tight at the moment," Joe said. "I've been travelling up to Sydney most weekends and I've been trying to do some gigs while I'm up there too.
"It's been pretty hard to sit down and focus on my exams."
Luckily, his musical talent has been well-rewarded at school - for instance last term he was nominated for statewide show Encore, which shows the best practical music exam performances.
But Joe said his real work would begin this afternoon after his final HSC exam when he starts forging a career in music.
