Pritesh Jivan – Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Johannesburg
I am a young South African Indian of age 19 as a result I am classified as a previously disadvantaged South African. Being the oldest child of four has taught me how to handle numerous amounts of responsibilities. I am often left at home with my siblings having to shoulder the responsibility of being the eldest in the house for hours on end, which is a bit of a task considering that we are all teenagers, surprisingly this has also enhanced my leadership skills tremendously. As a young student I was part of my schools cricket, soccer, volleyball and chess team. I represented my school at a Love Life tournament as the captain of the chess team. Participating in these various sports has made me a tremendous team player and an even better leader it has also given me an opportunity to mingle with other race groups and cultures which is one of the goals of IYL are trying to instill in the youth of a today. After entering the tertiary education level I have cut down on my sporting activities due to time constraints however I still play cricket for a club an soccer on weekends.
I am currently studying to achieve my honour degree in electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Johannesburg. I have been through a rough patch in the past year as a result I will have to repeat my second year of study. This however is not my stumbling block however it my foundation to further myself as I have learnt from my failures. I have learnt from Sir Richard Branson one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time that a person should not give up no matter what other people think, after all he is one of the worlds most influential people and he got bored and left school. As an IYL student should be, I am more in touch with myself and more goal oriented this year then I have ever been in my life, my major goal for this year is attaining at least two distinctions each semester and a 100% pass rate, I have identified my short falls in 2008 and I am really looking forward to correcting and perfecting them in the next few years, after all Rome wasn’t built in a day. I believe that you will never know what success feels like unless you have experience failure. The motto I am going to live by for the next few years is “Be positive and think positive.”
I would love to be a part of the IYL mission and to be a part of the “Expose, Enlighten, and Educate” campaign. I feel that I am a good candidate as I have never been across the boarders of South Africa and mixed with various cultures from other countries. This is a bit sad as I thoroughly enjoy meeting and mingling with people from different cultures. I think IYL will give me great learning opportunities and motivation needed to climb the ladder of success.
