Johannesburg - Lebogang Mathebula has made it to the Top 10 Achievers at the Nationwide School for Academic Excellence for the 2022 academic year.
Lebogang is originally from Mpumalanga but currently lives in Ormonde, south of Johannesburg.
She told The Star that she is ready to receive her results because, honestly, she worked extremely hard and is looking forward to reaping the rewards.
She said matric was challenging and very emotional because she kept thinking of the worst-case scenarios, but she was able to get through all that because of the support from her family and the school.
Lebogang said load shedding made her matric challenging because it disturbed most of her study routines.
“Another challenge that I think we all faced as the matric Class of 2022 is that our syllabus from Grade 10 was cut short due to Covid-19, the same was done in Grade 11.
“So when we got to Grade 12, all the topics that we never did came back, and we had to master them in a short period of time,” she said.
Lebogang said her school in 2022 operated from 6am to 9pm; she expressed that that was hard to keep up with, and at some point, she wanted to quit, but she kept going because of the major support from her school and family.
She said motivation also came from herself, as she expected a lot from herself.
“I was able to complete my matric year, and that is an achievement for me given the harsh circumstances I had to face and overcome,” she said.
Lebogang said she is going to be studying medicine at Wits University.
“I have always been interested and fascinated by the human body and how it operates.
“Me being a doctor will mean finding innovative ways to heal and save lives, as I am passionate about it all.
“My dream career is to be an oncologist,” said the confident young woman.
Her message for the matric Class of 2023 is that they should not expect their academic year to be easy because they will easily let their guard down, and this is not the time to rest but instead to enhance their skills and knowledge.
She confidently said her mother, Nompumelelo Mathebula, is not worried at all; she knows she made her proud.
“I am not nervous at all because my baby was always at her books,” said the proud mother.
The Star