Johannesburg - Top matriculant Ande Dhlomo from St Mary’s School, Waverley in Johannesburg, has her eyes firmly fixed on being South Africa’s next big legal eagle after her outstanding matric performance this year.
Dhlomo says that she was naturally very anxious about her results, but she slowly came to terms that she had no control over her results, and that decreased her nerves significantly.
“I come from a family of two older sisters and one twin brother. My parents have been highly invested in ensuring that I receive quality education and support. This was especially the case throughout my Matric year in which my parents went to lengths to ensure that there were minimal additional issues that I would have to engage with over and above the stress of completing Matric,” said Dhlomo.
She said her brother was great support for her last year. Although they attended different schools, they were able to share different perspectives and ideas in their common subjects.
She said that her school kept them engaged with co-curricular activities and leadership. She said that when she was not busy with her studies, her time was spent trying to meet the demands of her other commitments or trying to maintain a balance by socialising.
“However, during our preliminary examinations and more especially during finals, co-curricular activities and leadership positions were no longer an expectation to be met. Thus, during this time, I tried to balance my studying with going to the gym, taking walks, scrolling endlessly on social media platforms or spending time with family,” she said.
Dhlomo said her dream is to attend Wits University or the University of Cape Town, where wishes to study an LLB or a BCom specialising in politics, philosophy and economics.
“My interest in law comes from a greater interest in finding justice within society. I believe that the laws necessarily provide a framework for a society and, equally so, its injustices,” she said.
Dhlomo obtained an aggregate of 86% with six distinctions.
She said the greatest lesson she got from her matric year is that any pupil should find composure and remember the things that make you laugh.
“There is undoubtedly an immense amount of pressure placed on every Matric class, and this is often overwhelming. Thus, it is essential to find strategies to remove yourself from this negative environment. Finding the "work hard, play hard” balance is an essential tool to make sure you don’t get burnt out but also to instil an understanding that there is more to life than your books,” she said.
The Star