Mishaal Jagdew the former Estcourt High School student is the only male amongst the top five performing matriculants in the Uthukela District. Mishaal was one of thousands of matriculants who anxiously waited for 2014’s matric examination results to be released. He soon learned that his hard work paid off as he obtained distinctions in all his seven learning areas; Mathematics, Physical Science, Geography, Life Science, English, Afrikaans and Life Orientation.

When Mishaal was asked to describe what it feels like to be amongst four others as top performing students in the district, after a short thought he answered “indescribable” after a final thought he answered “happy”. “It’s such a happy moment to know that your hard work does pays off and one can now celebrate that fact,” Mishaal said all smiles.
This year Mishaal will be studying Actuarial Science. “Actuarial Science is a discipline that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk in finance and insurance as well as other industries and professions,” tells Mishaal with great interest and excitement.

Mishaal’s secret to success is living a balanced lifestyle. He added that one must find a way to relieve stress. Mishaal says that he turned to exercise, to relieve himself from the pressures of martic. Mishaal advises students entering matric this year to make use of past matric papers as they prove to be very handy as well as helpful.
“I am no bookworm, but with the right amount of hard work and dedication, astounding results are possible to achieve, tackle your studying bit by bit, daily. I can safely say that my hard work has paid off”, says Mishaal.

“I would like to firstly thank God, my family, my friends and the staff of Estcourt High School for all their support, mostly during this past year, without them this would not have been possible,” he concluded with gratitude.