Now feels like home

Editor’s note
Mariselle Stofberg
Josefina Ankonga

I joined the Westside High family last year as a grade 11 learner, because I wanted change and growth as an individual and judging from where I am now standing, I can proudly say that Westside High has welcomed me with open arms and helped me grow tremendously. I wrote my first article for the Oryx Press last year, and ever since then I have grown fond of writing. With the help of the editorial team, I have learned a lot from all the members and I am grateful for the support they gave me. Words cannot describe how thankful I am, to this school as whole, from teachers who gave me continuous support and guided me into the correct path, as well as the learners who become close friends, who helped me grow into the young female I am today. Westside High has presented life-changing opportunities to me and for that, I will forever remain thankful.

My advice to every young person out there is that greatness is about serving others, and therefore if you want to be great, you need to develop the idea of helping others and always putting others first. We all want to be great, difference makers and influential to the community, but we forget that we just don’t move forward by accident, but by intention. If you do not intent to be great and work hard for that, then you will not be able to achieve what you sat out to achieve. This is the principle I have followed all my life and if it can work for me, it can work for you. I also want to ask my fellow grade 12’s to use this year to make memories they will never forget. To use their maximum potential and get highflying academic colours for 2020, as we are heading towards the end of the race.

I would like to share a quote I life by from Peter Zafra who said, “All dreams, hopes and wishes that you think about were given to you by a Higher Power that knows you absolutely have the ability to fulfill all of them.” Everyone has a dream to do something great or be someone in life. Invest in your personal growth and find your passion, cultivate it until it grows into a fruitful tree, which bears fruits for the world, only your gift can create room for you in this world. We all deserve to shine in our own time, remember the sun, stars and the moon all shine at their own time, as we at Westside High school call it “individuality in unity”. Let’s be the bright lights with different colours, who are all bright lights except, they have different colours, and that makes them different among the rest. YOU ARE A SHINING STAR, never forget that.