Tomorrow starts Today with Lebo Sekhotla
RUIMSIG – Monash graduate, Lebo Sekhotla is recognised for her contributions to young pupils' education.
Lebo Sekhotla (24), Monash South Africa (MSA) psychology graduate of 2016 has worked very hard to achieve success on a special journey, where she has changed many lives along the way.
Growing up in a poorly-educated family living in Cosmo City, Sekhotla didn’t believe that there was a way for her to obtain a university education. However, her mother encouraged her to see that she was better than her circumstances.
On receiving a full scholarship from MSA, Sekhotla said, “This was such a blessing and I knew, from the start, that I needed to help make education possible for other young people in our community.”
When Sekhotla joined MSA, she immediately became involved in the student-run community engagement programmes. In 2013, she developed a motivational programme for Grade 9 pupils from nearby communities which was designed to give these pupils the life skills, confidence, and career guidance they needed to stay in school, apply to university, and contribute to their communities.
Her programme, called ‘Tomorrow Starts Today’, assists and inspires numerous pupils from local community schools, while helping with necessary life and computer skills, to equip them for tertiary education.
The programme is carried out at the MSA campus in Ruimsig, and MSA agreed to provide transportation for the pupils to the campus, provide access to classrooms and computers, additional career counselling and a healthy lunch. To date, close to 100 pupils have benefited from the initiative.
Sekhotla was elected MSA Community Outreach officer for the student representative council in 2014. In 2015, she received global recognition for her work by being awarded the Laureate International Universities ‘Here for Good’ award at a ceremony held in Miami, Florida.
In addition to the award, Sekhotla was appointed Here for Good ambassador for South Africa, and is the first South African student to secure this recognition.
“My aim with this programme is to change young people’s mindsets about education. You can’t drive social change through education in an environment where people don’t believe in the power of education,” Sekhotla said.
“Many of these young people,” Sekhotla explained, “don’t have positive support structures at home and are often subject to negative feedback from adults in terms of learning and teaching. ‘Tomorrow Starts Today’ is helping to bridge the gap between these issues and education.”
Details: Monash South Africa, 011 950 4000.
