Matric of the Year thanks God and parents
Grey High School pupil also snaps up cultural category accolade
The Herald Matric of the Year winner for 2019 says he owes everything he has achieved in life to God.
Grey High School prefect and Junior City Council deputy mayor close to Sachin tears during Naidoo his was acceptance speech as he thanked God and his parents for sacrificing so much to put him into the best school possible. Sachin scooped the overall title as well as the cultural category award.
The 18-year-old said his main drive had been to make his parents proud, and that he pushed himself to be the best version of himself he could be.
“We have been through a lot as a family and it has been a long and incredible journey.
“My school is not one of the cheapest schools but my parents put me there and told me to do my best while they take care of the rest.
“All the achievements and all the accolades are just words on a piece of paper. People remember how you make them feel and that is really what I want to do — make the world a better place,” Sachin said.
As the overall winner, Sachin won a R25,000 cash prize to assist with tertiary tuition fees and Police eye-wear valued at R2,500 from Spec Savers SA, a 12-month digital The Herald and Weekend Post subscription, a Samsung Galaxy tablet 10.1 with 1-gig data valued at R6,148 courtesy of Vodacom, a 12-month gym membership valued at R2,608 and a R250 spa voucher compliments of Profiles Health Club, a R2,000 fuel voucher from Caltex and R1,000 voucher compliments of Van Schaik bookstore.
The 2019 Excellence Award winner was Alungile Ntandazo Mto, 18, of the Holy Cross Education Centre in Mthatha.
Alungile said he did not expect to win, because his school did not offer many extramural activities.
He said he was happy to be heading back to his home town, Mqanduli, with the award.
Alungile said it would serve as a beacon of hope for every underprivileged child, showing that they, too, could achieve anything they wanted.
“My achievement would not be possible without my school principal and teacher for their motivation and belief in my capabilities,” Alungile said, adding that he wanted to thank his parents for their patience. “Coming from Mthatha, our parents usually set standards according to how they lived their lives in the past.
“Mama, Tata, I made it! This award goes to prove that all my ‘unrealistic dreams’, as they would call them, are tangible for anyone coming from [the rural outskirts of Mthatha],” Alungile said.
He, too, won a R25,000 cash prize to assist with tertiary tuition fees from Spec Savers SA, a 12-month The Herald and Weekend post digital subscription, a three-month gym membership valued at R1,020 from Profiles Health Club, a Samsung Galaxy tablet 10.1 with 1gig data valued at R6,148 courtesy of Vodacom, a R2,000 fuel voucher compliments of Caltex and an R850 voucher compliments of Van Schaik bookstore.
The Matric of the Year category winners were:
Academic category winner: Lindelize Bester from Pearson High School; community category winner: Julie-Ann Potgieter from Collegiate Girls’ High; school sport category winner: Ricky King from Grey High School.
Each of the category winners received a six-month The Herald and Weekend Post digital subscription, a three-month gym membership valued at R1,020 from Profiles Health Club, a R1,500 fuel voucher from Caltex and a Proline 7inch lTE Android 8.1 tablet valued at R1,499.