From struggling with Afrikaans to matriculating from Hoërskool Nelspruit with three distinctions to her name, Zanokuhle Mokoena was a shining star in the school’s Class of 2024.

Born and raised in Mbombela, Zanokuhle started her schooling career in Little Angel Primary School before spending a year at Meridian Karino. Thereafter she moved to Laerskool Nelspruit for the senior phase of her primary school career, finishing Grade Seven at Laerskool Nelspruit in 2019.

When it came time to choose a high school for Zanokuhle, the decision was made to send her to Hoërskool Nelspruit, as her mother, Nonhlanhla, is a teacher there. “I was in an English class and I did all my subjects in English in grades one to seven. I only did Afrikaans as a first additional language, so when I went to NHS, I was very scared, because I couldn’t imagine myself doing maths in Afrikaans,” she said.

While it was initially a daunting task and things were tough for Zanokuhle, her determination made light work of the challenges she faced. “I was very scared to go to NHS, because I thought I was going to fail, but I told myself that the word ‘fail’ would never ever be in my vocabulary.

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“So I told myself in Grade Nine I was going to work extremely hard. Every day when I got home, I did my homework first. Then I would try do two hours of studying each afternoon and review all the work we did in class that day to make sure I wouldn’t get behind.”

Zanokuhle’s mindset proved a pivotal part of her time at NHS, and was the key to her eventual success. “I would go to the teachers and ask them questions about the work I didn’t understand. I would sometimes wake up at 04:00 in the morning to revise my schoolwork and I made a promise to myself to never get an average of below 80%, and I didn’t break that promise.”

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Another secret to success Zanokuhle highlighted was the importance of surrounding herself with like-minded friends, also hard-working. From Grade 10 onwards, she took the following seven subjects: Afrikaans home language, English first additional language, mathematics, physical sciences, business studies, accounting and life orientation.

Zanokuhle was also not one for sport or any other activities. “I wanted to make sure nothing came between me and my studies,” she said. All of these factors paid off with great success in Grade 12 for this NHS matriculant, as she emerged with three distinctions to her name. But there could very well be more to come.

“I obtained distinctions in life orientation, business studies and English, but we are going to remark my mathematics, which was 79%, and accounting, which was 78%.”

While she was headstrong and tackled everything head-on during her high school career, Zanokuhle had a strong support base too. “My mother always encouraged me and told me I could do it. She would always tell me she was proud of me and she would just motivate me in so many ways. My friends were also very helpful and supportive. NHS has amazing teachers, and having such amazing teachers was also an inspiration.”

Zanokuhle will begin studying towards a BCom in accounting at the University of Pretoria this year, having already begun her orientation. “I hope my dream of becoming a chartered accountant will become true.”