- Salusiwe Mxayiya, a Grade 11 learner from Luhlaza High School, will represent the Cape metro at the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists International Science Fair.
- Mxayiya’s project, “Fish parasite effect on growth,” explores the impact of parasites on Lantern fish development, driven by her passion for marine biology.
- With support from her teacher and mentor Zizipho Mdikasi, Mxayiya aims to do her best and make her school and community proud at the competition.
Pressure is mounting on Salusiwe Mxayiya as the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists International Science Fair (ISF) draws closer.
Mxayiya is one of the 18 learners from the Cape metro who are going to participate in the contest at the Emperor’s Palace Convention Centre in Kempton Park, Gauteng, from Monday 23 until Friday 27 September.
At least 308 local young scientists and nine international participants from Lesotho, India, Russia and Mexico will showcase their research and engineering projects at the event.
At least nine young scientists from Turkey, Ghana, Mozambique, Kenya and Ireland will take part virtually.
The Grade 11 learner from Luhlaza High School described the competition as an eye-opener for her.
She stated that she didn’t expect that she would go as far as the final round of the contest.
“I’m a bit nervous now. Initially, when I entered the competition I did it for fun. But, now I can see it is becoming serious. Everyone is looking at me. It is not no longer about me. It is about my family, school and my community as well,” explained Mxayiya.
However, she vowed to do her best to win it.
Explaining the competition, she said each learner has to come up with a research topic and unpack it in front of the panel.
“The competition started in March. Every learner had to come up with a topic where she would represent it in public. My topic was ‘Fish parasite effect on growth’. I’m doing my research about the effects of parasites on Lantern fish and its development,” explained Maxayiya.
She said she has a passion for marine biology. “I’ve noticed that there are few females in that industry and I also love challenging things,” she said.
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Teacher and Mxayiya’s mentor Zizipho Mdikasi described the competition as a platform for the learners to explore new things.
She described Mxayiya as an “inquisitive” learner and hard worker. “To us as a school, Mxayiya has already won the competition. She put our school on the map. No one in the school has ever gone as far as she has done. We will support her to ensure that she fulfils her dream,” she said.
Mdikasi labelled Mxayiya as an inspiration to other learners.
“We had two learners who entered the competition. But the other learner didn’t make it. Mxayiya won both District and Regional Eskom for Young Scientists held at Star College in Athlone and the University of Cape Town respectively,” said Mdikasi.
Mologadi Motshele, the Eskom Development Foundation’s Acting Chief Executive Officer, said: “Eskom remains unwavering in its commitment to invest in the youth. Eskom Expo for Young Scientists is the only national initiative of its kind that reaches the whole of South Africa and beyond to develop the skills and talent of the youth of our country”.
She said the Expo remains a vital platform to nurture and empower the next generation of innovators and scientists.
Mologadi said the innovative solutions that will be presented by the learners will directly address and resolve most of the challenges faced by the country while paving the way for a brighter and more sustainable future.
The University of Pretoria, Babcock and Siemens Energy are sponsoring six full bursaries for engineering degrees at a South African university of their choice. Various partial bursaries from Wits University and Alfeco Foundation are also up for grabs. Massive monetary prizes up to R75 000 cash are up for grabs, along with laptops and tablet computers sponsored by Eskom Holdings, Siemens, Innomotics, the South African Environmental Observation Network, Ekurhuleni Drums, Trisim Logistics, CXI Africa and FFS refiners.
