She serves as the 2019 Deputy Secretary-General of her school Model United Nations Society. Tanya Gwenhure is a 6th Form student currently studying advanced Mathematics, Economics and Physics at the Dominican Convent High School in Harare. Find something in your life that’s so worthwhile doing that the fact that you’ll suffer in justifiable.’ I’d like to conclude this by saying, ‘confront and adopt responsibility in your own life. The struggles you’re going through now, are building you for your greater purpose. Take this as an opportunity to build a strong mindset that perseveres and is not easily swayed from the focal point because these people will ALWAYS exist. V) Do not be discouraged by people who invalidate your love for something. Iv) Having a job that is not your passion is not always a horrible idea at first, use this opportunity to FUND and invest (feed) your passion whilst you continue to lay out the foundation. Make your dream tangible so that you start forming the foundation now. Strive for excellence at the smallest of tasks so that when the opportunity comes to showcase your talent, you have some first-hand experience. If you enjoy cooking, make something for a friend or a family member. It does not start off with having a high-end office space in a fancy building - it starts with your sibling, your friend. Iii) Be the person you wish you had in your time of desperate need or when you felt insecure about something. You probably would not even have had the very opportunity you have to be reading this. You probably wouldn’t have made it to where you are this very moment. If you often think so negatively about yourself, imagine if everyone then thought of you the way you thoyght about yourself. Fortunately, not everything is within your control. Ii) Do not disqualify yourself from opportunities before someone else does. This cold hard truth is the nudge you need to get off the platform mounted by someone’s expectations of what and how you should live out your purpose. Life is a result of some of the choices you make, you’ll always rejoice (or suffer) the consequences. I) You are responsible for upholding your image, not your parents’, not your siblings’, not your schools, YOU. By now, I am sure you can already relate, instead, I’ll reflect on the lessons I’ve learnt and I am still learning as a student of the universe.
This letter wouldn’t be complete if I simply shared my experiences. A huge feeling would be one of uncertainty, but to the dear learner, uncertainty leaves room for wider possibilities. I have had to embrace watching them struggle to mould the letters ‘MPE’ (Maths, Physics, Economics) with distaste in their mouths, wondering how I’d become a doctor, lawyer or accountant with that combination. In my case, courage has also meant bracing - or rather embracing the look of disapproval from relatives and peers who would denounce my ‘queer’ Advanced Level combination. This system places my future in the hands of a 48% mark I attain for my ‘key’ science examination and leaves me with no tools to properly explore the question of self but instead makes me feel like that 48% is what defines me. This oath dictates that I have to choose either to stay in the science, arts or commercials only class as early as at the age of 15. Abandoning an oath that gives little or no context on Pythagorean’s theorem or how finding the exponential function is in any way linked to real life. Redefining courage is abandoning an oath that confines me within bounds my curiosity desired to transcend.