School of Engineering Welcomes Top Matriculants

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The School of Engineering is extremely proud to welcome Nikyle Bisseru and Arivind Arunakirinathar of Durban High School and Ewan Slabber and Connor Gons of Glenwood Boys High, who have all chosen UKZN’s Discipline of Mechanical Engineering as the starting point for their tertiary education.

Bisseru was placed 6th in KwaZulu-Natal and first overall in the Umlazi District in the 2015 matric examinations.  With Maths, Physics and Engineering as his favorite subjects, this high achiever is undoubtedly heading in the right direction.  Nikyle’s older brother, Kashmeel Bisseru will graduate with a Chemical Engineering degree summa cum laude this year.

Nikyle hopes to follow in his brother’s footsteps. ‘Mechanical engineers are involved in construction, design and the management of various items that require any mechanical/moving part. They are also broad thinkers, risk takers and realistic problem solvers, which the world needs. I also did research into mechanical engineering and I spoke to students who were studying Mechanical Engineering,’ said Nikyle.

Arivind has done Durban High School proud, being third in South Africa for Mathematics and first overall in KwaZulu-Natal.

Mechanical Engineering seems the right route for Arivind as his curiosity knows no bounds.  ‘I chose to study Mechanical Engineering because I hope that it will provide me with explanations for the many mechanisms which operate daily.  I would also like to gain the necessary knowledge to create some of these mechanisms,’ said Arivind.

Glenwood Boys are thrilled with the results of Connor Gons who left the school last year with a string of awards to his name, including the Academic Honours Award, M. J. Sjolander Prize for combined Maths and Physics, the J. B. Colam Memorial Prize for Physical Science, the Margolis Harvey Prize for Life Sciences, the Waltons Stationary Prize for Geography and the Dux Proxime Access IT award.  Connor not only excels in academics but is also a keen sportsman with interests in hockey, running and off-road motorbiking.

His interest in Mechanical Engineering stemmed from the fact that this degree does not limit one when it comes to choosing a career.  ‘Mechanical Engineering is a degree that allows one to follow many different careers which can take you to incredible places around the world.  The field of Engineering matched up with many of my interests and is primarily why I chose to study for this degree,’ said Connor.

Another high achiever from Glenwood Boys High School is Ewan Slabber who also won numerous awards at his school, including the HR Hawkey Memorial Prize for Engineering Graphics & Design, the Music Award, and the JH Snow Memorial Prize for Dux of Glenwood High School.

He scored seven distinctions in his matric examinations, earning him the No 1 spot at Glenwood High.

Mechanical Engineering was a natural choice for Ewan, ‘I want to stretch myself with my studies, and use problem-solving skills to engineer new ways to improve everyone’s quality of life.’

Ewan is also passionate about playing the piano and was a finalist in the Hennie Joubert National Piano Competition at the International Piano Symposium, playing with the Stellenbosch Symphony Orchestra.  He will continue with his piano studies under UKZN’s Dr Liezl Maret-Jacobs.

Prashina Budree