An Alexandra pupil studying at St Stithians Boys’ College in Randburg has made the township proud.
Ayanda Nyathi, of the Student Sponsorship Programme (SSP), beat 30 other pupils on the programme, though in different schools, to clinch the top achiever spot of the programme that has been awarding five-year scholarships to scholars from previously disadvantaged backgrounds since the year 2000.
Nyathi and the other pupils sat for the Independent Examination Board’s Senior Certificate examinations and achieved outstanding results. As a collective, the 30 pupils achieved 59 subject distinctions, including 40 B symbols and 55 C symbols.
The top SSP candidate for the IEB examinations went to Nyathi, with distinctions in all eight of his subjects. When asked about how the SSP contributed to his achievement, Nyathi described it as ‘insurmountable’.
“I cannot even put it in words. It’s not just the opportunity provided and the funding but it’s everything.” He attributed his achievement not only to the opportunity given to him by the SSP to study at St Stithians, but to the overall support and coaching he received throughout his five-year journey.
Nyathi was the deputy head prefect at St Stithians and their DUX (Latin for leader) scholar for 2014. He will be furthering his studies at the University of Cape Town in the field of chemical engineering.
Closely following Nyathi are two young girls, Kwazinkosi Nkomo (Kingsmead College) and Patience Lehola (St Stithians Girls’ College) who each earned six distinctions including mathematics, physical science, geography and accounting.
They have proved that any determined scholar can achieve great results in their chosen field, irrespective of their gender or circumstances. Nkomo has been awarded a bursary to study engineering at the University of Pretoria as part of the MasterCard Foundation’s scholarship programme. She is also hoping to study abroad and has applied to three universities in the USA and Canada.
Lehola will be pursuing her dream of becoming a chartered accountant at the University of Johannesburg after receiving a bursary from Mercantile Bank.
Rounding off the top five is Ricardo Rodrigues from St Martin’s School with five distinctions in English, maths literacy, visual arts, history and life orientation; as well as Tebogo Thibedi, a Thembisa resident and St Stithians Boys’ College pupil, with four distinctions in history, mathematics, IsiZulu and life orientation.
Rodrigues has applied to further his studies majoring in psychology and fine arts at Amherst College in the USA. Thibedi is a recipient of two bursaries from PriceWaterhouse Coopers and the Black Professionals Student Fund (a tertiary scholarship founded by SSP alumnus). He will be studying accounting science at Wits University.
