Matric’s out the way, now Justine aims for the stars

● She is already the brightest star of matric 2018 but Justine Crook-Mansour, pictured, wants to go one better by helping to colonise Mars. The former Rustenburg Girls High pupil and highest-scoring matric countrywide in her school division is considering a career in astrophysics.

Traversing the solar system could be easier than what the Cape Town schoolgirl achieved last year, scoring the top result while mourning the loss of her father, who died at the start of her matric year. She received her final results during a year-end trip to visit his grave in France.

“My mom helped me a lot to get through it,” she said of the family tragedy. “You mourn and do the correct things. It was my matric year and so I just tried to do my best and keep going. It was obviously very difficult to keep focus.”

Achieving this required staying busy, which she did partly by keeping up her sporting routine of school hockey.

“That really helped me de-stress, it helped me in lots of aspects, especially emotionally.”

Crook-Mansour, 18, was the highest achiever in a quintile 5 school. Her lowest mark was 96% and she got 100% for history.

With a stellar matric behind her, CrookMansour now has set her sights even higher, or deeper: outer space. She is an admirer of Elon Musk, the former Pretoria teen who is planning a 2026 Mars colony mission.

“I am interested in that,” Crook-Mansour said. “I potentially would like to do some kind of research involving that.”

She said she was also drawn to engineering due to her aptitude for maths, science and physics. “I like working with numbers and I am a kind of curious person.”

She is also a well-rounded person, judging by the responses this week from her family and school community.

Said her principal Michael Gates: “Justine is confident, determined, self-disciplined and an exceptional academic. She is a talented problem solver, with exceptional insight and analytical skills.”

Of her daughter’s success, Glynis Crook said: “I am over the moon for her and extremely proud.”