Aiming for higher heights

De Duine Secondary School can proudly boast with the second best student in the region, as well as the best student in the country for Afrikaans Second Language.
Octavia Tsibes
Leandrea Louw

Keikantsemang Mokaleng was the second best student in the region in the Namibia Senior Secondary School Certificate (NSSCO) examinations.

She has aspirations to study medicine and is working hard towards her goal.

“My plan for this year is to enroll at Namcol and write Biology and Physical science on higher level, since my goal is to become a cardiac surgeon. When I'm done with Namcol, I will apply at the school of medicine and do my first year in Namibia and then move on to South Africa and complete my studies there . Since only the best of the best gets accepted into medical school, if I’m not accepted will first do a Bachelor's degree in Science, Applied Biochemistry or Medicinal Chemistry, and then try med school again.”

She says to achieve success you shouldn’t give up on your dreams. “If you really want to achieve your goals, you should always keep on pushing and find different alternatives to achieve them because the road to success is never easy nor is it straight. It's full of challenges and you might fall, a couple of times, but that shouldn't break you. You should always be optimistic and it will all be worth it when you've reached all your goals.”

Luchandra Strauss from De Duine Secondary School was ranked first in Afrikaans second language.

“My future aspirations is to become an accountant, for now and one day a successful entrepreneur. My recipe for success is a bowl of hard work, a lot of determination, a spoon of integrity, with a heart that’s in the right place and a clock to manage your time.”

She advised her grade 12’s to grab every opportunity with both hands. “What you sow you will reap so focus on your matric now, friends and parties will always be there, but not your matric.”

Furthermore, according to Mr Alrich Links, Language teacher at De Duine, more learners qualified for admission to tertiary education compared to previous years. “There was a significant improvement in the quality symbols (A, B,C and D). About 45% of the students are enrolled at institutions of higher lerning. The ordinary level results, especially the languages boasted with more than 80% quality symbols.”

Principal of De Duine Secondary School, Mr Anton Van Wyk, said there are numerous plans in the pipeline to make sure that 2019 and 2020 delivers even better results.