Loyal ex-pupils give annual awards
‘We want to leave this world a slightly better place than we found it’
Former Maria Louw High School pupils Abdullah and Leanne Stellenberg believe in giving back – and one way they do it is with the awards they have created at their alma mater.
The couple and their children, Candice and Damien, initiated the annual Stellenberg Award of Excellence in 2016, and they have been handing out R10,000 to the winners each year. The best performing pupil receives R5,000 and the second and third best performers walk away with R3,000 and R2,000.
Leanne, who matriculated from the Komani school in 1975, said they award the top three Grade 12 academic performers.
“To date we have nine pupils who have benefited from the awards with a total investment of R30,000.”
She said the awards are meant to encourage pupils to not only pass matric but to pursue excellence and pass with distinction.
“Higher education has become extremely challenging and mediocrity is not accepted in the workplace anymore.
“Many pupils are not accepted at tertiary institutions due to low marks.
“We would like to expand the number of pupils that can benefit from these awards and also encourage other families and individuals to start similar initiatives.”
“We need to help our children to be part of this exciting time and assist them to use every opportunity to improve themselves with self-education and make a difference in other ways, like entrepreneurship,” she said.
Abdullah and Leanne were born in Komani but have since moved to Cape Town.
“We moved to Cape Town 38 years ago with the main purpose of furthering our own education and for better career opportunities.
“We also wanted to afford our own children the opportunity to get the best possible education, and I think we succeeded in doing that,” she said.
Leanne said their daughter Candice is a dentist and a lecturer at the University of the Western Cape and Damien is an attorney based in Florida in the USA.
“We grew up in the unfortunate era of apartheid and we were not able to pursue our dreams because of poverty and political restraints.
“We never gave up on our dreams, and both of us were able to establish successful careers for ourselves and could rise to the top despite all the challenges,” she said.
Leanne said they never let go of one aspect of their dreams – education.
“We want to leave this world a slightly better place than we found it.
“It is for this reason that we are hoping to make a small difference in the lives of a few people who will hopefully then be able to have an impact on other people when they are in a position to do so,” she said.
This year Tazlynn Fraser bagged the R5,000, while Kwezi Cele and Juan-Claude Botha received R3,000 and R2,000.
Maria Louw High School teacher Lampo Ruiters said the awards were a success and it was a great encouragement for the pupils.
“Who wouldn’t want to get paid for what you are supposed to be doing,” joked Ruiters.
He thanked the Stellenberg family and all the people who made the awards a success...
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