For many matric students across South Africa, the midpoint of the school year brings unique feelings of excitement, anxiety, and hope. As application season peaks, thousands of Grades 12 learners are navigating one of the most significant transitions of their young lives and choosing the path that will shape their futures. We sat down with Unathi, one of our Infinite Family Net Buddies, to hear about her experience first-hand and find out what excites her most about the year ahead.
Unathi’s answer was full of possibility: “I am excited to enter a new chapter of my school life and of my life.” However, like many young people standing on this threshold, her excitement is accompanied by a quieter, more personal fear and she admits she’s scared of leaving home.
This tension between the pull of the future and the comfort of the familiar is one that many matric students will recognise. Moving away from home, whether across the city or across the world, requires a kind of courage that doesn’t always get celebrated loudly enough. It’s okay to feel both.
Unathi has applied to the University of Johannesburg, with an eye on programmes in Public Relations, Human Rights, and Business Information and Technology which are in line with the subjects she is taking in school. However, she is also keeping her horizons open, with plans to apply to institutions abroad including universities in the UK, China, and New Zealand. A willingness to think globally that reflects the confidence that comes from having a strong support network.
For Video Mentors walking alongside matric students this season, we’d urge you to encourage your Net Buddy to research their options thoroughly, align their choices with their strengths and interests, and remember that there is no single “right” path. Not everything about the application journey feels empowering and Unathi is candid about one of its harder realities: “The hardest part is choosing courses I am not interested in, but having to choose them because I’m limited by the subject choices I made in 10th Grade .”
This is a reality for many young South Africans. Access, financial constraints, entry requirements, and limited availability of certain programmes can narrow the field significantly. When this happens, it’s important for Video Mentors to help their Net Buddies reframe these choices not as ‘settling’ but as strategic stepping stones. A course that feels like a compromise today may open unexpected doors tomorrow.
Five years from now, Unathi sees herself working abroad as a teacher helping students understand and learn a language that enables them to communicate across cultures and borders. It’s a vivid and meaningful picture, even if the specific details are still taking shape. “I haven’t really gone that far,” she says with honesty, “but I can give you a layout.” That kind of humble, open-hearted vision is exactly what application season calls for. You don’t need a perfectly mapped out plan, you need enough direction to take the next step, and enough flexibility to grow into who you’re becoming.
Perhaps the most encouraging part of Unathi’s story is who she has in her corner. “My mother, my sister, and my Mentor,” she says, when asked who knows what she’s working towards. “They give me advice and always tell me that if I can’t do something there is always another option. They help me a lot with things that I am confused about.”
*Note: Photos, quotes, awards, and stories come from real Infinite Family Net Buddies. For their safety, we change the names and images to protect their identities.