Westville pupil ready to tackle studies at Harvard
WESTVILLE Girls’ High star pupil Colombe Obono Eyono, who like many other matriculants is waiting for her matric results “any day now”, is on her way to the US’ Harvard University.
Born and bred in South Africa of Cameroonian parents, she hopes to eventually contribute to the world by informing economic policy around the decolonisation of colonial economic legacies.
Her other interest is gender issues. “I have been conscious of how destructive colonial and neo-colonial legacies are in African countries,” she said.
Colombe hopes to major in economics and African studies at the famed Ivy League institution.
She said it was “marginally reassuring” to be going to the US in the post-Donald Trump era, but expected the legacy of his era to still be around on a structural level.
“I’m still expecting quite a bit of chaos and division, from what I have seen on the news, but I think it’s a land of possibility, without trying to promote the American Dream,” Colombe said.
“It’s a country where a lot can happen.”
In the five months until the start of the academic year at Harvard, Colombe will return to her alma mater to help out with the school’s debating activities, one of the many activities she engaged in and excelled at while at school.
“What I like about debating is that it gives one the ability to force one’s self to see the other side.”
Westville Girls’ High said that Colombe had maintained scores of 80% or above throughout her five years there.
Last year she came eighth in the De Beers English Olympiad, written by more than 5 000 pupils across South Africa.
Colombe said her favourite subjects were history and maths.
She said she expected to miss the weather and culture of Africa.