2020 HSC metal and engineering exam topped by Tumbarumba High School student Lachlan Fisher

Given the traumatic start to the year, the 18-year-old acknowledges he "really turned it around", managing to top the state in his HSC Metal and Engineering exam.

"At the start of the year during the fires, we were lucky to get out when we did," the student said.

"But then we spent about a month and a half where we couldn't go back [to Tumbarumba]."

Mr Fisher and his family narrowly escaped the path of the fire, deciding to leave the town just half an hour before it was deemed too late to leave.

The decision to leave the town came just after Mr Fisher witnessed his the home his father had built catch alight. He assumed it would not be still standing when they returned.

"Many of my mates lost everything but somehow our house still stands with only minimal damage really," he said.

When he returned to school, Mr Fisher was once again confronted by a new set of challenges.

First came the COVID-19 disruptions, that forced his teacher Glen Keefe to re-arrange the entire course plan.

"The course is divided up into eight clusters completed over two years, with a practical [component] to each one," Mr Fisher said.

"We ended up having to do all the theory together and got through that really quickly [while learning from home] and then we did all the practicals together."

It was a gargantuan task that the principal Michael Blenkins the two students and their teacher "must be commended for".

"He [Mr Keefe] went to a lot of trouble to ensure the class [of two students] were not disadvantage," Mr Blenkins said.

"All the teachers made sure the senior students did not fall behind. There were only 13 of them, so it was one of our smallest year groups but by far one of our most cohesive and unified as well."

Following the pandemic, Mr Fisher's parents' separated which left him with an impossible choice.

"I had to choose whether to stay in Tumbarumba or whether I move to Bathurst with my siblings," he said.

He moved in with his grandmother and bid farewell to his three younger siblings to focus his attention on the HSC. Finally, the student faced surgery - the fifth in three years - to fix his knee.

Thankfully, his knee had recovered enough that when Mr Fisher was informed he had topped the state for the VET subject, he was able to "jump around like a little school girl".

The enormous adversity he has overcome is something Tumbarumba High School principal Michael Blenkins is immensely proud of.

"Lachie typifies the kind of resilience young people from regional Australia possess," Mr Blenkins said.

"He has brushed himself off time and time again to just kept going."

Now off to study mechanical engineering in either Wollongong or Newcastle, Mr Fisher will be the first in his family to go to university.