Athenkosi Nzanzeka lost nearly four months of schooling between April and July last year due to eye-sight problems that saw her undergoing two operations in Cape Town's Groote Schuur Hospital.
Athenkosi Nzanzeka lost nearly four months of schooling between April and July last year due to eye-sight problems that saw her undergoing two operations in Cape Town's Groote Schuur Hospital.
Despite this, she still achieved two of GADRA Matric School’s top results, scoring 73% for English Home Language and 78% for Maths literacy."I'm very happy, I did not expect it. I could have done better but I am grateful for the results. It was not easy but it paid off." said Nzanzeka.
She is now looking to climb to greater heights and follow her heart to study towards Journalism and Media Studies at either NMMU or Rhodes University.
"I discovered my passion for journalism when I enrolled in the Citizen Journalism course at Grocott's Mail in 2011, and after that I went on to be a presenter a Rhodes Music Radio," said Nzanzeka.
"She loves school and has plans to continue and study further for Journalism, and I pray that she gets a bursary or anything that could help her cope well at university." said her mother, Vuyelwa Nzanzeka.
Her mother said she never thought her daughter would be able to pass with such flying colours, especially after having been hospitalised for four-months. "It was very frustrating and I am grateful to everyone who lent a helping hand to try and support her – my church and her school teachers, who went out of their way to make sure that she could catch up and get better results," said Nzanzeka.
GADRA Matric School Principal, Melanie Lancaster, said Nzanzeka was a hard worker who despite all odds stood firm to make sure that she achieves greatly.
"We are proud to have had an opportunity to come in handy during her time of need. We admire her very much for coping in such a difficult situation. She went the extra mile with her teachers to organise additional classes," Lancaster said.
"She attended a lot of extra lessons because she knew what she wanted and her teachers were very determined to help her. We would also like to extend our gratitude to Dr Davies Optometrists Inc. and St John's Eye Clinic for their help," she added.
Nzanzeka says, "It was tough but I had to be at school and the teachers were very supportive. They organised extra classes for me and I had to be serious about catching up whilst trying to heal at the same time. In GADRA we are a very small number, so we are more like family. There's interactive learning and individual understanding, which leads to a simple, good teacher-to-learner relationship. GADRA is the best!"
