Proud, grateful Greenside High pupils can't wait to get started at varsity

A tech boffin wannabe from Greenside High School has shared his adventure in Antarctica where he learnt more about climate change and sustainability. 

Mohammed Hassan, who got university entrance confirmation on Friday, said he is looking forward to better resources and university life.

“The acceptance letter came in this morning from Wits for electrical engineering. I want to get to campus and use the equipment there, they had cool stuff when we visited and I can’t wait to use it full-time.

“For the matric expedition I had to write an essay to make it to the top 100 and then I did a video to go to the top five from South Africa.

“We saw climate change in action. You can see the ice hasn’t recovered from years ago. There was no ice. What hurt me was we burnt a lot of diesel to stay warm. If there’s a way we could use solar panels and natural energy why are we not using it? It’s something I would like to explore.

“You can’t pollute the environment [there], all the waste is taken back, even if it’s a gum bag or plastic bag,” Hassan said.

The only thing he could bring home as a memento from the November trip was rock.

“There are no gift shops in Antarctica. There’s a lot of science and not much tourism, so we could only bring rocks. We visited the ice skates, magnificent views of prestige blues and white and almost no pollution. You become completely immersed in it,” he said.

Hassan believes if nothing is done to counter climate change humans will have nowhere to go. “It was shocking, you could see the mountains, because the ice has not recovered from the past years,” he said.

The school achieved a 100% pass rate.

Sihle Malambe said he was excited to have matriculated. 

“I'm happy I can progress to university. It was a tough test, we worked hard and grade 11 knocked me down because of Covid-19. There was a lot of external pressure. I’m hoping to go to UCT and study either law or informal sciences.

“My brother has been texting me since Wednesday to ask if I have my results. He’s more excited than I am,” he said.

Nabeel Petkar was saved by taking a social media break and exercising on a regular basis.

“We went online last night and saw the results. Seeing it on the certificate is better. I was confident in writing. I'm super grateful. Power cuts were a serious issue. I had to work extra hard and go to my uncle's home to study.

“The best thing I did was removing myself from social media. I jogged a lot too,” Petkar said.

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