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A bumpy but successful academic journey

After completing high school, many students aspire to move on to the next step of their academic journey. My path took an unfortunate turn, as the marks I attained were too low for admission into the University degrees I intended to study. As a consequence, I found myself taking some languishing three involuntary gap-years, sitting at home in the township, with a seemingly stagnant career. However, like every fairy tale, my journey continues ‘happily ever after’, as I have managed to obtain three degrees amongst other numerous accolades. I am Keith Ncube, a doctoral student in Pharmacology at the University of Pretoria.

During my high school studies, I found the complex structure of chemicals such an intriguing concept. Our chemistry teacher narrated how some of these chemicals are used in the treatment of various diseases, and this ignited a passion within me to pursue a career in health sciences. However, this zeal quickly diminished, as the grades I obtained during my final exams were not sufficient for admission into programs such as Pharmacy and Medicine. For three consecutive years, I tried applying for alternative degrees at various universities without any success. Just as I had lost hope, I received admission to study a BSc in Medical Sciences at the University of Pretoria, a turning point which I reckon was the true birth of my academic journey.

Transitioning from a period of inactivity, I found the acceptance into University to be a privilege, and I prioritized my studies. As a result, I managed to pass most of my modules with distinction during my first year. This enabled me to work as a tutor for chemistry (my old forgotten passion) during my second year of studies. Engaging with students during tutoring made me realize the massive gap between the content taught during matric, and the more complex concepts that students encounter during University studies.

Myself, with some of the students we mentored in the Yakhanani High School mentorship program.

Then, I came together with individuals from various fields of study to start up and serve as a coordinator for the Yakhanani High School Mentorship Project, which is aimed at grooming and preparing high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds for the transition from high school into the tertiary environment. I have continuously utilized this platform to share my journey and inspire young students, and to advise them on how to maneuver around potential hurdles that they may encounter in their academic journey.

Upon completing my undergraduate degree with distinction, I was introduced to the world of academic research through admission into an Honours degree in Pharmacology. I was assigned with a project that aims to develop laboratory models of breast cancer that optimally mimic the attributes of cancer in the human body. These models are then used to study the potential effect of new anti-cancer drugs.

I passed the Honours degree with distinction, and as a result, I was accepted as a Masters student received an NRF scholarship which afforded me an opportunity to continue with the research and sharpen my skills as a Master’s student within the same field. With support from my supervisors, I managed to grow as a young researcher, and scooped several accolades within the country and internationally. The most significant of these was being chosen to be amongst 600 students across the globe to meet and engage with Nobel Prize winners at the prestigious Lindau Nobel Laureates meeting (Germany) in 2018. In the same year, I presented part of my research results at the 18th World Congress of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology in Kyoto, Japan. In addition to presentation in various national conferences within South Africa, I also got the opportunity to act as an academic supervisor for junior students within our Department of Pharmacology. I have since completed my Master’s degree (Magna Cum laude), and I am pursuing my Doctoral degree in Pharmacology.

Myself, posing for a picture with Anja Maria-Antonia Karliczek, the Federal Minister of Education and Research in Germany (left) and Professor Michael Levitt, a Pretoria-born Nobel Prize winner (right), at the Lindau Nobel Laureates meeting in Germany (2018).

My shift from a seemingly futureless young teenage boy to an established health scientist has ignited a passion within me to inspire upcoming academics that ‘failure is sometimes a necessary detour, and not a dead end’. This journey within the past decade has offered me a wealth of experiences which I would like to share with academics and individuals who are aspiring to pursue a career as an academic. Some of these experiences include transitioning from high school into tertiary education, how to select a good supervisor, maintaining resilience, and the craft of scientific writing and presenting amongst other additional topics. I look forward to using the SAYAS blog to share these experiences.

Posted on by mauro95cesar · 2 Comments

From aspiring cricketer to geographer, my journey thus far.

I was born on 4 June 1995 in Parktown – a South African with Portuguese heritage. I grew up with a single sibling, my older brother Marcio, who I always looked up to. Looking back, I think it was his intelligence and ability to teach me right from wrong that I most admired. I so badly wanted to be like him.

Photograph taken after reaching my highest score in cricket – 117* in 2018.

When I started high school (Edenvale High), I really had no idea what I wanted to become or do, apart from playing cricket for the Proteas. In grade 10, I hit a growth spurt, started running in the morning and changed dramatically from a short, overweight boy to a tall and rather slender young man. I distinctly remember that my Principal came to me, one day, asking who I was. I told him my name and he was flabbergasted to find out that I was, in fact, the same student that had been in his school since grade 8. I was very timid, and all the attention was very new to me. That same year I chose my subjects: maths core, physical science, accounting and geography. Geography was by far my absolute favourite, there was no doubt. My teacher, Miss Joelene Augustine (who I still keep in contact with) had a profound impact on my life. She was certainly the best teacher I had. Apart from her teaching ability, she would always look out for me, was always kind and would also let us watch the cricket world cup on a tiny TV in the corner of her classroom during break.

In grade 11, we had the opportunity to go to Bali (yes, Bali Indonesia) on the school’s geography field trip. We organised fundraisers – I have never washed so many cars nor baked so many cupcakes in my life – but it was all good fun, and we reached our collective target. Our trip lasted two weeks. The very first morning after arriving at the inland hotel, we woke up at 4 AM to go on a hike up Mt. Agung, an active stratovolcano. Our local field guide spoke very eloquently, and I remember being at the front of the group with Miss Augustine. After we reached the summit, to a breath-taking sunrise over the Lombok Strait, I turned and looked directly at Miss Augustine and asked: “Is this what Geographers do ma’am?” She simply smiled and replied that you can do literally anything with geography. From that moment onward, I decided that I would take up geography at university. It was a “no-brainer”.

The last evening of our Bali field trip in 2012. I am sitting in the foreground on the front step, right from centre, next to Miss Augustine.

I have since completed my Master of Science degree in Geography at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. I am currently enrolled as a PhD student and I have received an incredible opportunity to work with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, during my research. I have some new heroes, now: my Masters and Honours supervisor, Professor Chris Curtis and my PhD supervisor Professor Jennifer Fitchett. My dream is to work as an academic in the field of geography. I am looking forward to the day I get to wear that red gown!

Conducting fieldwork in the Drakensburg during 2016

Someone once told me that the smartest people in the world are the ones who surround themselves with people who are more intelligent than they are, and I absolutely agree. I think we can add something to that, though. You do not have to surround yourself solely with the smartest people, every opinion loud or whispered is important and certainly valuable. I have inadvertently lived up to exactly that, as I am most certainly not the smartest person in the room, but will connect myself with people who are open to sharing their views in the hopes of learning from one another.

During our Honours year, we wrote several blog posts as part of our assessments, an exercise that I thoroughly enjoyed (see mine here). Thank you for the opportunity to write about my personal story and share my own experiences, something that we do not indulge in often, as students who constantly have to cite others.