His dream was to become a teacher. Instead he has ended up a top achiever at Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s (CPUT) engineering faculty.
Nhlanhla Sosibo, 23, is not letting his dream of becoming a teacher go. Despite being honoured with the Dean’s Award during a graduation ceremony last week, Sosibo has now been enrolled for an education qualification at the University of South Africa (Unisa).
His aim is to give back to the community of Clermont in Durban where he was born.
Sosibo had obtained distinctions in all 31 of his subjects, with an average of 86% since he was registered at CPUT in 2013.
“There are two things I always take with me that my teacher taught me: 1 Time wasted is never recovered; and 2 Work like a slave and live like a king.
“Sometimes in life people are going to pass you, but that does not mean you don’t have the ability to be a winner. Towards the end of last year I felt like I had enough of anything to do with CPUT and graduation, but my colleagues motivated me and told me I can do this and to my surprise I did.”
Deputy principal of Simon’s Town High School Michael Peters said: “Nhlanhla is a lovely child, he’s very quiet but ask him anything and he will tell you, his ability to work independently contributed to his academic success.
“Nhlanhla has always been a top achiever from Grade 10 when he joined (us) until matric where he was the head boy. His general demeanour meant that he’s always been willing to go the extra mile even if it means coming in on a Saturday to assist us.”
Nhlanhla’s passion for teaching started when he was in primary school. He would help pupils with their alphabet and in Grade 6 he helped teach Grade 1, but his passion did not end there. Last year he was a maths tutor for first years studying marine engineering at CPUT.
Sosibo said: “Wanting to help people is what motivates me to study hard and want to obtain another degree in the near future. For as long as you can dream it you can do it. You will have the ability to achieve everything you set your mind to. If a guy like me can do it so can everyone else.”