BETHABA Shazi is John Wesley School’s SPAR Star of the Month.
The 12-year-old pupil, currently in Grade 7 at the school continuously strives to better herself and completes her work with the utmost passion and dedication.
She recently entered the eThekwini Municipal Library Services Quiz Competition and took part in the district finals at the Wyebank Library at the beginning of August. She took first place and won a certificate, a trophy, a school dictionary as well as a gift card to spend at Gateway.
To take part in the competition she had to read three books, two fiction and one non-fiction; Romeo and Jabulile, the Lost Boys and Nelson Mandela, A Long Walk to Freedom. “I absolutely love to read,” confessed Bethaba. “I do it everyday. I am currently reading In the Fifth at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton but my all-time favourite book is Mellow Yellow by Jenny Robson.”
Her passion for reading started in Grade 2 where she picked up a copy of Horrid Henry and became totally engrossed and lost within the pages.
The next phase of the quiz competition was the inter-district finals at the Westville Library, where she competed against 18 other avid readers. “The competition looked a lot stronger than me, but with the support from both my family and my teachers I came in second place and I enjoyed the entire event.” She won a certificate, a trophy for both herself and her school, a school bag, a Gateway gift card, a scientific calculator a Scrabble board game and a whole array of other goodies.
Ryan Reed, a Grade 6 teacher and the head of English at the school, congratulated her on her achievements so far and wished her all the best for high school next year. “She is enthusiastic, bright and is a really dedicated pupil. She was extremely disciplined when it came to reading all of the set work books for the competition and her achievement is encouraging for our school and we are very proud of her,” said Ryan.
