Video: Safiya spurred on by Covid-anxiety
The 18-year-old says the extra pressures put on her by the pandemic and lockdown helped her realise that she is tougher than she thought.
Safiya Mather. Picture Supplied
Born and bred in Johannesburg, Crosby, Safiya Mather from the University of Johannesburg Metropolitan Academy said she was anxious and scared about what the year 2020 had in store for her, because of the unforeseen havoc wrecked by the pandemic which affected her and led to her grades dropping early last year.
Mather said that she worked and hard and fought her anxiety by surrounding herself with like-minded people and that helped her get her grades up and even saw her scoop 6 distinctions.
“I was anxious about being in matric and when the President announced lockdown, the anxiety became worse, I didn’t know whether I would finish my final year or if the whole year was going to be cancelled.
“When we went back my marks dropped and that was a huge knock to my confidence but I’m proud of how hard I’ve worked and the support my family gave me and I believe my results will prove that,” said Mather.
For more articles, or to view your DBE matric results, click here. The results will be made available at 6am on 23 February 2021.
Mather who’s hoping to study Actuarial science at Wits University is one of the UJ Academy pupils who bagged more than 5 distinctions and were consecutively awarded the top achievers badge from grade 8 until their final year.
The 18-year-old top achiever said that her advice to the class of 2021 is that despite the trying times they go through whether it’s the pandemic or something at home they should always remember that they are tougher than they think they are and this is their year.
“To the class of 2021 I would like to share a quote that really motivated me and kept me going, ‘don’t lose hope when the sun goes down because the stars will always come up,’ and despite the trying times they should remember that they are more resilient than they think they are and this is their year and their attempts are still worthy,” Mather concluded.
For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.
