Overcoming anxiety: Zarah Petersen's journey to becoming a top achiever

Zarah Petersen,17, a top achiever at Phoenix Secondary School in Manenberg, has every reason to be proud.

This year was far from easy for her. She battled severe anxiety, which often made it impossible for her to attend school regularly.

“My anxiety made learning extremely difficult. I am very impressed with myself. I faced so many challenges, but I refused to give up. I can safely say that hard work truly does pay off,” she said.

There were days when coming to school felt impossible, but she kept telling herself that no sickness would stop her from pushing through. Despite these struggles, she said she set her sights high.

“My goal was to become a top achiever, and I did just that,” she said.

She made a conscious decision to focus on her mental health, a move she credits as life-changing.

“Once I started prioritising my mental health, everything slowly began to improve. I focused more attention on the subjects I struggled with, and that made a huge difference,” she said.

Zarah has already applied to study Business Administration, determined to continue building a better future.

“I believe people must work on themselves. When you do that, positive results will follow," she said.

Her mother, Moegsiena Petersen, struggled to hold back tears as she spoke about her daughter.

“I am so proud of her. She is amazing. My daughter was very sick and had severe anxiety challenges. It was extremely hard for her to stay in school,” she said, adding that despite medical challenges, her daughter refused to give up.

“She would faint at school, but still soldier on,” Ms Moegsiena said.

The principal and teachers kept bringing her back due to illness, but she refused to stay at home. "She is a fighter, and I am beyond proud of my daughter," she said. 

Phoenix Secondary School principal, Shameeg Fredericks, acknowledged both the achievements and the challenges faced by the school.

“We achieved a 76.9% pass rate. Some might call it an average pass mark, but we do not compare ourselves to others because we operate under very different circumstances," he said. 

Initially, the school aimed for an 80% pass rate, but external factors forced a reassessment.  He said gangsterism had a major impact and as a result, Saturday classes had to be cancelled because pupils couldn’t safely come to school.

"Our plans and ambitions were derailed, and we had to adapt," he said. 

He added that many of their pupils do not have access to the internet, making online learning impossible.

“Despite these setbacks, we saw improvement in September. With committed teachers, parent groups, and social workers from the department, we are slowly but surely improving our pass rate,” he said.

He said over the past three years, the school has shown steady growth as it moved from 63% to 73%, and now to 76.9%, adding that they set realistic targets.

Meanwhile, Star College in Bridgetown once again achieved a 100% pass rate.

Principal Zafer Zor confirmed that the school has maintained its undefeated standard since 2015.

“The results are good, although they could have been better. We worked from the first day until the very last day of the school year. With 41 boys writing the exams, the school continues to aim higher. Our target is to achieve 100% bachelor passes, with at least three distinctions per pupil,” he said.

He firmly believes that there is always room for improvement.

Muzzammil Dhansay, 18,  emerged as Star College’s top achiever after earning seven distinctions, and he said the hard work he put in has finally paid off.

“My goal was never to beat others. I always try to beat my own targets. When you do that, you naturally rise above the rest,” he said.

He credited his success to discipline and consistency. “I used past exam papers every single day.“Consistency is the key when preparing for matric,” he said. 

Although he experienced burnout, he found balance through exercise.

“I did feel overwhelmed at times, but exercising kept me going,” he said.

He plans to study Dentistry at the University of the Western Cape, determined to continue striving for excellence.