A language enthusiast of Nigerian and South African descent who was the top matric learner in Afrikaans at her school is destined for the engineering field.
“Languages will remain a passion I excelled in from a young age while my interest in engineering which has been closed to women, grew recently,” said Chisom Okoroafor when collecting her results at Sandtonview Secondary School. “Fear had been in instilled in them [women] that it’s a male field, forcing them to remain in the ‘soft’ professions,” the daughter of a Nigerian father and Zulu mother added.
The myth that science was difficult was debunked by her teachers who made it simple to master through simple experiments at school. “This in addition to proving the ease with which experiments can be conducted using many cheap objects available in most homes.” Chisom was the school’s top achiever with two distinctions including in science and an average all round pass of 75.6 per cent.
Her interest in the sciences was further consolidated by the government which has been promoting the field among women and girls in a bid to bridge a huge need for the Fourth Industrial Revolution which requires engineers, scientists, economists and mathematicians. “Also an organisation added to my interest when they exposed the need for black females to free their minds and creativity in the field while being productive in society.”
Her aim is on being a successful entrepreneur in either biochemistry, engineering, microbiology or research. Chisom urged for a drive that will promote the field in rural areas where most schools have no laboratories and could be centres of excellence in solving challenges that make rural folk lag behind in many aspects of life.
She thanked her proud father Alex and mom Nondumiso for their support. “They have been my biggest support structure, have been there for me, drove me to extra classes, weekend and holiday tutorials and ensured I attended all holiday tutorial camps.”
She intends attending tertiary studies at Wits, UJ or UCT. “I am in no rush and am still flexible on the exact field of scientific choice.”
Chisom challenged the school’s future matriculants to surpass the standard set. “As a class, we made a collective commitment to improve from the past.”
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