S.E.T. for socio-economic growth
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Sarah would like to see more time and money being invested into educating people about science.
If you asked me three years ago, what I would be studying, I would have confidently told you that I am going into finance. I have since realised that I am not meant for that world at all. I discovered my true passion, which is chemistry. I am fascinated by this part of science and how it ties into all the other aspects of science. I also believe that it is a field with much practical application and diversity in career paths. I am especially interested in the medicinal aspect of it. I hope to help develop this field and make a real and meaningful change through chemistry.
When I think back, I realise that I have always asked the question, but why? Why do things work the way they do? Why do things around us happen? I later found the answer to many of these questions in chemistry. My textbook’s name is “Chemistry, the Central science” and I found this to be so true. Everything boils down to chemistry, to the little atoms that make up you me and the whole world.
I would love to see more time and money being invested into educating people about science. My favourite quote is “No one can do everything, but someone can do something”. For a long time, I thought that there was no point in trying to change things, because I could never change the whole w world. I later realised that I don’t have to change the whole world, only the small part of the world around me. That is what I hope to do—to keep striving to improve the world around me and to motivate the youth to join me in this cause. Because if enough of us strive to do that, we can change the whole world.
I attended Durbanville High School, which is in Durbanville, in the northern suburbs of Cape Town. I can truly say that I loved my school and my teachers. I am privileged to be able to say that I attended a school where the teachers really cared and I was blessed with much love and support in my five years at Durbanville.
I have always found the process of learning fascinating, so I loved the challenge of solving a problem. I enjoyed battling and sitting with a concept until I really grasp it. I enjoyed the creative aspect of solving a problem in science and math.
Many students have developed an anxiety around math and science, and I often experienced this too. Too many students get stuck in their own minds about these subjects, when they just need to trust in the work that they put in. I have also noticed that students struggle when they don’t understand the basics. I believe that earlier education plays a fundamental role in being able to advance and do more complicated math and unfortunately this is not always prioritised as it should be. More practically, I think too many students, want to skip straight to practicing the problems and doing past papers, but I found a lot of value in first studying and really understanding the theory behind the work. When students only do past papers, they only learn to recognize problems and patterns, instead of understanding the problems. When you understand the theory however, you are better prepared to answer challenging questions, because even though you have not encountered a similar question in a past paper, you will have the tools to approach this question.
Practically, my biggest tip is to stay on top of it. These school years are busy, and it is simply unrealistic to start studying weeks in advance of exams. However, if you continuously make sure you understand the work and keep up mentally, you will be okay. You won’t be able to study as far in advance as you would like, but if you already understand the work, the rest is just memorising and practicing. That can happen quickly, the part that takes long is figuring out the concepts, so don’t delay in that. But more importantly, grade 11 and 12 learners are continuously reminded that these are the two years where they must be excellent. I want to tell them that yes, these school years are busy and important, but they are still not everything. I have seen peers of mine become completely overcome by the pressure of these years and the feeling that it must be perfect. It does not have to be, and it likely won’t be. So, although these grades play an important part in their future, they shouldn’t forget that there are much bigger and more important things waiting for them on the other side of the road.
I would tell them to keep an open mind when applying. The whole process can be quite overwhelming, but they must remember that they can only apply. The rest they can’t do anything about, so there is no point in stressing about something entirely out of their control. I would also like to remind them that it is entirely fine to apply for very different and contrasting courses and not know 100% what they will end up doing. Throughout the year, they can do more research about their different fields of interest. Many things change in matric, and you change as person, so it is good to go in with an open mind.
Something that I think many people get wrong about me, is that I was always aiming for a goal, or for a position, or for a specific mark, when in fact that is entirely untrue. I have always worked hard so that I can walk away and say, ‘I truly did my best.’That’s to me is excellence, taking pride in your work and doing it to the best of your abilities. An achiever is not necessarily someone with high marks or someone who is noticed. I love the quote “All you can do is all you can do and all you can do is enough.” I believe being an achiever means doing all you can do, not being the best. An achiever is the person who tries, not necessarily the person who wins.
I would tell them to not lose hope. We are surrounded by people who keep reminding us about the bad things we experience. But I would tell them not to give up, because we have so much left to give. I have a lot of hope for our generation, and I believe that if more of us hoped together, we could do something great. I love our country, our people and our culture. I don’t believe that you could find what we have somewhere else in the world. I love the way we come together, the way we make a plan, the way we care for each other when times get tough. We often remain too focussed on the bad things around us and forget about all the great things we have. We need to hold onto that and build on it and together create the future of our beautiful country.
I would want to thank them for the immeasurable impact that they had on my life and who I am today. I would want to thank my music teacher for the cup of tea after my bad accounting exam. I would want to thank my math teacher for sparking my interest in the subject. I would want to thank my Afrikaans teacher for lunch time chats and for making her classroom a safe space. I would like to thank my history teacher for the comfortable classroom environment where everyone could voice their opinion without judgement. I would want to thank them for the motivation and prayers and love that they gave. So, I would want to thank them for all the little, seemingly insignificant things that changed my life in ways they don’t even know. I would want to thank them for seeing us and more importantly for seeing who we could become.
I would love the opportunity to speak to Bridget Mendler, co-founder and CEO of Northwood Space. I find the work she is doing at Northwood Space and the path she followed to get there to be extremely interesting. I would love to ask her about this and her goals for the future.
S.E.T. for socio-economic growth
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