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If a woman with brains and beauty is a lethal combination, then Grade 12 pupil Layla Norman is pure dynamite.
The Maragon High School pupil was recently awarded the top honours white blazer, the highest award at the school. It is given in recognition to a pupil who receives three full colours in three of the five pillars at Maragon.
“The five pillars are: academics, culture, sport, leadership and outreach. Layla achieved three full colours in sport, academics and service,” said the school’s marketing manager Belinda Espag.
Norman is an exceptional pupil in her own right. She has been in the top ten since she was in Grade 7 and was the school’s top pupil last year for maths and advanced maths.
“It is great to be awarded with the blazer because it is such a rare award. There are only three people in the school who received this award – the head boy and girl and I,” she beamed.
Norman’s sporting achievements include martial arts which she has been doing for five years. She added that she recently competed at the South African Championship, where she was placed second and third.
“Martial arts is a great escape for me and it is quite nice to hit something,” she chuckled, “I have also been [in] school sports for three years. I also participate in hockey and athletics.”
The top student is a warrior in her outreach programmes as well. Norman has been training in first-aid for five years and obtained a level 3, and she is also an avid blood donation peer promoter.
She currently has her head in the books with the mid-year Grade 12 exams. She concluded that she plans to study something that has to do with maths in university next year.
We were not expecting anything less!