By Everson Luhanga
- Tshegofatso Sekano from Sebokeng passed matric with five distinctions and scored ninety seven percent for accounting.
- She has been accepted to Yale University after strong academic results and years of learner leadership work.
Tshegofatso Basetsana Sekano is an 18-year-old from Sebokeng in the Vaal who believed that top universities were not out of reach.
She attended Lofentse Girls High School in Orlando East, Soweto.
Tshegofatso took one of the most demanding subject combinations at her school. It included physical sciences, mathematics, accounting and history.
She passed matric with five distinctions, including ninety seven percent for accounting.
She said the workload required discipline, late nights and sacrifice. She said it also reflected how she thinks about numbers, systems and people.
“That interdisciplinary way of thinking drew me to the idea of a liberal arts education,” she said.
Her interests later led her to apply to Yale University in the United States. Yale encourages students to study across different fields.
Outside the classroom, Tshegofatso played a big role in learner leadership. She served as a school treasurer in Grade 10. In Grade 12, she became chairperson of her district’s Representative Council of Learners.
In that role, she represented learners at district, provincial and national levels.
She worked on issues around learner wellbeing, mental health, school infrastructure and education policy.
She also helped run learner businesses, community projects, peer tutoring and interschool debate and poetry platforms.
“At the time, I wasn’t thinking about university admissions,” she said. “I did the work because I saw opportunities to improve the schooling experience for other learners.”
Her thinking changed after attending the Yale Young African Scholars Residential Leadership Summit in Kenya in 2025.
She later joined the programme’s Pathways initiative, which supports students through university applications.
While preparing for final exams, she also wrote the SAT and submitted her Yale application in October.
Being accepted confirmed her belief that African students belong in global academic spaces.
“I refused to set a ceiling for myself and applied anyway,” she said.
She plans to study ethics, politics and economics alongside African studies. Her focus will be on education systems and leadership.
Pictured above: Tshegofatso Basetsana Sekano from Sebokeng, who has been accepted to Yale University.
Image source: Supplied
