Meet The Glen Shopping Centre bursary winner

When hope seemed lost for 18-year-old Orefile Murwa, her successful bursary application brought her an opportunity to pursue her studies.

Orefile is a driven young lady who matriculated from Balmoral College, Boksburg, in 2023 with an average of 85%. When in high school, business studies, history and tourism were among her subjects.

She strategically chose them to later benefit her choice of study after high school.

Life-changing project

The Glen Shopping Centre annually runs a competition offering prospective students an opportunity to win a bursary worth R60 000 and amazing prizes from ValueCo, Computer Mania and Estoril Books.

To be eligible for the bursary, students must have matriculated in 2023 and visited The Glen Shopping Centre website to fill out the form before January 21, along with a comprehensive motivational letter on why they should be the winner of the bursary.

Also, to win students must have an interest in studying business, commerce or a related course at any university or college.

The bursary-choosing process entailed candidates submitting their details, matric results and acceptance letters to a tertiary institute.

From there, all the entries were submitted to a panel of judges where a first, second and third candidate was chosen by each judge. Ten candidates were invited to an interview with the panel of judges which included the GM of the centre, ward councillor Michael Crichton, head of management studies at Varsity College, Doreen Mukuku and Grolife life coach, Leonie du Preez.

The Glen Shopping Centre marketing manager, Jess Denner said: “We aim to position ourselves at the heart of the community through educational initiatives. The programme was set in motion with the idea of changing lives and making education possible. We are thrilled to be part of this exciting new journey for Orefile Murwa. Her determination and resilience are truly inspiring.”

A discovered opportunity

“I come from a humble background as my family is not wealthy and my parents are unable to afford to pay for my studies. I spent a lot of time searching the internet for bursaries when I discovered The Glen Bursary competition and I applied.

“I was motivated to apply not only because of my financial situation but merely because winning would be a return on investment and my dedication to academic excellence made me the perfect candidate to win,” expressed Orefile.

The bursary gives Orefile the opportunity to study law as she has always desired growing up. She is currently a first-year LLB Law degree student at the University of the Witwatersrand which is a four-year course.

“We were 10 candidates who were shortlisted for interviews and I highly doubted that I would win. However, after the interview, I anxiously anticipated the confirmation call,” emphasised the winner.

She added that suddenly her area did not have any signal when she saw a missed call from a landline number. “I remember running around trying to find a signal,” she said laughing.

“It was an emotional moment when I heard I was the winner; I cried. I believe that it was by the grace and mercy of God that I was chosen. I thought I was going to have to take a gap year because I applied for many bursaries but none were successful which caused me to lose all hope.”

Despite her emotions running high and the challenges she endured, Orefile was excited to win and so was her family.

Her academic and future goals

Orefile hopes to get distinctions through hard work and dedication. She also hopes to make herself, her family and her sponsor proud.

“I’ve always wanted to study law and I am grateful to The Glen for the opportunity and the support of my family. To me, law is the root of all things as it governs the structure of the world and everything in it. If all goes well, I hope to someday become a chief justice officer,” said Orefile.