What makes you so special?

When I was in the seventh grade I had the pleasure of encountering an apathetic teacher who would always sarcastically ask the students in class “What makes you so special?” Imagine, if you can, a teacher wagging a finger in your face and using a judgemental tone as she asked this question. Geesh! I thought teachers were supposed to be motivational and inspirational. This teacher was anything but. But this incident has gotten me thinking, now that I’m in Matric, what makes us all so special? (minus the wagging finger and judgemental tone.)

Last year, Matric 2012, a young lady, aged 18 was top of the class nation-wide in the NSC exams. Perhaps you’re thinking that she probably came from a school in the leafy suburbs, a school that was loaded with resources, with teachers who had won numerous awards for “Excellence in Education”. But you’d be wrong!

Mmadikgetho Komane (her name means success!) matriculated at “Glen Cowie S.S” in the rural Sekhukune district of Limpopo. She achieved 100% for; Maths, Physical Science & Accounting. (How did she manage that?) What makes her so special is that she attended a school that didn’t have loads of resources or award winning teachers, and COME ON, she hails from Limpopo, the province which usually attains the lowest matric results. And if you weren’t living under a rock, you’d know about the textbook debacle in Limpopo, when most learners were without textbooks for the first half of the year. So it’s kind of obvious what makes her so special. She triumphed despite all the odds.

So, I pose the question to you, beautiful learners of CHS, what makes you so special?

You are at a school that is equipped with the best resources and excellent teachers who put in extra hours for you and who are there to help you.
So there’s nothing to stop you from striving for excellence.

To my fellow Matric learners, take a leaf out of Mmadikgetho Komane’s book and let’s spend this year productively.

To the grade 8’s, 9’s, 10’s and 11’s, you too are going to be in matric in the blink of an eye, so plan for the future. Who knows, perhaps amongst you there might also be a Mmadikgetho Komane. After all, we are that special!

Your editor,
Nabeelah M x