Matric motivation: Karl Hellberg is third among KZN’s top matrics

Estella Naicker

WITH a 96% average in the matric exams, Karl Hellberg is certainly on the right track to realise his dream of a fulfilling career in high performance engineering, preferably in the motorsport industry.

This driven Vryheid High School pupil was honoured at a prize-giving function hosted at the ICC in Durban for having obtained third position among KwaZulu-Natal’s Top matric achievers.

“It was a nice feeling to know that I was one of the top achievers in Natal. It was not my main aim, it was just a consequence of me working toward my goals,” said Karl.

Karl has enrolled at the University of Pretoria towards a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He hopes that he can use the skills he learns over the next few years to develop new technologies that help make life easier for people, but it is clear that his passion lies in the world of motorsport.

“From a young age, I have been interested in cars. I love to work with cars and I also enjoy the challenge of creating something new. Over time, this developed into an interest in race car engineering, and motorsport is at the cutting edge of the industry where engineers are encouraged to be creative and to come up with solutions within a very short period to outsmart the competition. Someday, I hope to work in the motorsport industry,” explained Karl.

Asked about how he managed to stay focused during his matric year, Karl said, “I constantly challenged myself to do as well as I could. I wasn’t satisfied easily with what I achieved and this helped me perform even better at the end of the year. I was not satisfied if I knew I could do better.

“I was a bit stressed that a stranger would be marking my paper and that they may have a problem understanding my handwriting. Working through a number of past papers helped me to understand what the examiners are looking for in the answers. Knowing what is expected of you, and how to tackle each question is just as important as studying. Sometimes, you just rely on a hunch and hope for the best.”

Karl has also competed at swimming from a young age and has been participating in the Midmar Mile from Grade 4.

“Taking a break every now and then to swim while I was preparing for the final exams helped me keep my mind refreshed and focused,’ he said.

Karl has this message for the matric pupils of 2017, “Keep your head down and work hard. Keep your focus. Do not become discouraged at the start of the year if you do not achieve well. The workload at the beginning of the year is high, but your marks tend to improve during the year if you keep working.”

Karl thanks his family for their support, God for the talent and ability to do what I could, and Vryheid High School for the support over the years.