The National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) Brilliants programme celebrates its twenty-first year with 19 new top STEM students.
To celebrate Youth Month, the NSTF announced the 19 first-year students from all nine provinces in South Africa who were selected in the NSTF Brilliants programme.
The NSTF said the annual programme recognises the top young man and woman chosen from each of the nine provinces based on their outstanding performance in Grade 12 physical science and mathematics during 2021, and their choices to further their education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The forum added that this year 19 students were selected for the Brilliants Programme, because of a tie in one of the provinces.
Mpumalanga saw two first-year male students, Sifiso Hosana, a medical student at the University of Cape Town (UCT), and Banele Lethukuthula Buthelezi, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Pretoria (Tuks), both obtain 100% for physical science and 100% for mathematics.
The other students selected for the programme are UCT medical student Aiswarya Sarah Mathew and University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) medical student Lunathi Qumba from the Eastern Cape;
Stellenbosch University (SU) medical student Chané Nel and UCT mechanical engineering student Tlotliso Mofokeng from the Free State;
Wits medical student Emilia Janse van Rensburg and SU mechanical engineering student Neo Gift Dau from Gauteng; University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) medical students Anele Onke Mnguni and Phila Lungani Mbuyisa from KwaZulu-Natal;
UCT electrical and computer engineering student Delicia Davhana and mechatronics engineering student Dichochi Ramatlou from Limpopo;
UCT medical student Kgothatso Angela Gugu Mphaka from Mpumalanga;
Tuks medical student Melissa Janse van Rensburg and Wits mechanical engineering student Kamogelo Sam Timbane from North West;
Wits pharmacy student Khadija Hoosain and SU data engineering student Matthew Keith Holm from Northern Cape, and SU human life sciences student Mia Jorgensen and electrical and electronics engineering student Glasson William Osborne from the Western Cape.
The forum said that every year, the Brilliants students are treated to an educational tour, and this year will see a nature conservation and biodiversity tour to Maropeng and the Sterkfontein Caves, Kloofendal Nature Reserve, Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens and the Bothongo Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve, sponsored by The Lewis Foundation.
As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the tour was not possible in 2020 and 2021, so all three groups from 2020 to 2022 will be joining this year’s tour.
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