An 18 year-old matric pupil of Kenneth Masekela secondary school, Senamile Refentse Mtshali, obtained five distinctions.
He attained distinctions in the following subjects; Life Orientation (90%), Mathematics (96%), Accounting (99%), Business (92%) and Economics (96%).
The determined and hardworking student alluded to Ekurhuleni News on how he managed to study and get such remarkable marks in all those five subjects, “l loved EMS back in primary school. My interest was basically learning about profits in business. I then got a clearer perspective on business studies, accounting and economics as time went by. My problem was that I didn’t put effort into it. I remember passing Maths with only 46% in grade 9 and I knew by then that I had to change my ways if I wanted to get better marks in my upper grades. I did research about it and through that I discovered how I can improve my learning techniques,” added Mtshali.
The young man also mentions that he joined Intuthuko Saturday classes where he learned accounting. He also attended classes at Fill In The Gap which were held on Mondays to Thursdays and they taught him more about career-development and they taught more about accounting. The NGO also helped him by taking him to PwC, an accounting firm located in Midrand just to give him a glimpse of how the world of accounting and auditing is like. “Being at PwC and seeing auditors inspired me even more. I worked even harder and my marks increased tremendously. I improved from 40% to achieving 95%. I already had a vision that I wanted to study Accounting Science at Wits by 2021 so I’ve been putting in the effort from grade 10 until grade 12. I do not intend on stopping,” Senamile expresses excitingly.
He faced challenges last year when both his parents fell sick and a month later, he lost his aunt due to the coronavirus. He states that he is grateful that his parents are fine now but there was a time where he lost hope and did not study for a whole week. However, he could not give up because he knew his vision.
“I downloaded old DBE question papers and I used them to practice and study. I managed my time wisely and I rested enough. Discipline is very important and since there was lockdown, I had a lot of time on my hands so I was always ahead of the teachers when I went to school. My goal has always been about improving myself. It does not matter if I improved by 5% but I always had a target of 90% plus. Right now I am waiting for bursaries to respond to me but I am positive that I’ll be funded,” uttered Mtshali.
By Palesa Ndinisa
