Johannesburg - A matric pupil from Parktown Boys' High, who scooped six distinctions, is set to study medicine to help people with their dermatological issues
Lebone Legodi, 18, who has received provincial acceptance at the University of the Witwatersrand to study medicine is set on becoming a dermatologist to help people like him.
Legodi suffered from severe acne when he was 15 and that experience lead him to the decision to study medicine.
"I was on a six months course to treat my acne and my doctor helped me a lot. After going through that I realised this is something I would like to do for someone else," said Legodi.
He said it was how the doctor was able to turn his life from being a shy boy with low self esteem to being confident, which compelled him to want to do that for other kids.
The top achiever has not limited himself to going to Wits but he hopes to do his postgraduate degree in Japan.
As much as it seems like the young medical student had a smooth sailing matric year, he said it wasn't always easy.
"Being in matric in 2020 was by far the hardest thing I had to do. The most difficult thing was that preparations were cancelled and we had to jump straight to prelims without writing the June exams which is what we use to measure how much harder you need to study for the prelims and final exams. The fact that the prelims and finals were close together was also very stressful," said Legodi.
Navigating through online classes also presented a challenge to Legodi, however he said self discipline and motivation helped him get through it.
"As much as you can sit at home and look at the computer you don't learn much it's the same as watching TV where you are most likely to forget what you were watching after 30 minutes, online learning was similar. So one had to attend the lesson and after the lesson, revise what was going on in the class."
Last year was a tough year for everyone where people got retrenched with many taking salary cuts.
Legodi said he was fortunate that he didn't lose any family and that his mother who he lives with in Riverlea, still had her job. He did however notice some financial strains.
"There were some tough times with a few retrenchments in the family and that put a lot of financial burden on the parents as bills hiked up," he said.
He encouraged the class of 2020 to seize the moment and give it their all.
"This is a once in a life time opportunity and at the end of the day as long as you can say, I gave it all I had in me then the results will show," said Legodi.
Legodi obtained six distinctions in the following subjects: English home language, Afrikaans ; maths; life orientation; history; life sciences; physical sciences.
The Star