Brenton, who schooled at Grosvenor Boys High, attended weekly supplementary classes offered by the Engen Maths and Science Schools (EMSS) programme, which aided him in his quest for the perfect score card.
He has enrolled for a Bachelor of Accounting Science degree at Varsity College’s Westville campus in 2019. He intends to qualify as a chartered accountant and run his own business.
Having scored 94% for science, 83% for maths and 89% for English, he credits the extra lessons provided by the oil company which he attended for his outstanding results. “The EMSS programme hosted at Fairvale High provided me with top quality tutoring in key subjects but also helped me to identify my weaknesses and improve on them,” said Johnson.
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His advice for the class of 2019 is to focus on schoolwork. “It’s all about hard work, managing your time and your priorities,” said the 18-year-old, who believes nothing in life worth achieving comes without a few obstacles and hard work. He is adamant he could never have achieved such excellence without the commitment of the programme teachers, who gave him the support he so desperately needed and helped him stay in control when the pressure mounted.
With American business magnate, investor and philanthropist Warren Buffet as his role model, Brenton also offers the following sound advice to those yet to complete their schooling: “Standards are increasing and that can seem daunting, however, it’s important to focus on your goals rather than on the challenges. It is also vital to maintain a balanced schedule.”
He acknowledged his family for creating an environment for him to shine. “I was never hounded to achieve, only motivated and encouraged to do my best. My family helped me to relax and find an important balance between school and life throughout last year.”
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A total of 532 matrics from across South Africa benefited from Engen-backed extra classes in English, maths and science last year, achieving an impressive 93% pass rate overall, compared to the national rate of 78.2%. Two of the four EMSS centres in KZN, Fairvale High School and Ganges Secondary School, boasted 100% pass rates.
The top three positions nationally in the 2018 EMSS class all hailed from KZN, with Brenton securing third place.
Adhila Hamdulay, Engen’s corporate social investment manager, said the company is delighted to see the young man have the chance to pursue his bid to become an accountant.
“Brenton is a prime example of future leaders that the EMSS programme aims to assist, with a view to not only see them achieve personal success, but also to tackle the bigger issue of helping address key national skills shortages in the engineering, medical and other technical fields. At Engen, we strongly believe we have a responsibility to help young people realise their full potential, and we feel enormously privileged to have played a role in Brenton’s impressive achievements.”
Equipping people with potential and drive to succeed in their careers sums up the company’s approach to human resource management and education-focused corporate social investment programmes, said Engen’s head of transformation and stakeholder engagement, Unathi Njokweni-Magida.
The company congratulates Brenton and the EMSS class of 2018 and offers a well-deserved applause to all the matrics and teachers.
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