Pictured here with Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Mandla Makhanya, Jacqui Stoltz receives the “golden handshake,” at her graduation.
In December 2011, Jacqui Stoltz was panicked and worried. The Unisa honours student wrote to several of her lecturers and professors, explaining that she would, probably, not be able to complete her examinations in January because her sister and husband were severely ill. Fast forward to December last year, however, and Jacqui was not only graduating cum laude, but receiving the Senate Gold Award for top achievement in her studies at the College of Education. This is her story.
In 2008, after working in “mainstream” education at Amanzimtoti Primary School in KwaZulu-Natal for several years, Jacqui was asked to teach a multi-grade class of learners who experienced severe academic barriers to learning. “It was then that I realised I’d need to study further in order to adequately help my pupils,” she explains. She registered with Unisa to complete an honours degree in Inclusive Education, not knowing that the toughest battle still lay ahead.
Three years later and Jacqui was preparing to write the final examinations when her life was turned upside down. Her husband, who had suffered from a severe medical condition years earlier, was admitted to hospital for an acute infection in his chest cavity. But it didn’t end there. Shortly afterwards, her sister was admitted to hospital after she went into a coma. “We were not sure if she was going to survive and it was exceptionally tough on the entire family. I pushed my studies aside as I was battling to focus and was emotionally drained,” she says. After many close calls and tense weeks, her sister, Wendy, finally woke up and was on the road to recovery. Jacqui was not sure she could continue her studies after everything she had gone through. Enter Prof Cheryl Le Roux. “She explained that she completed her honours while taking care of her two-year-old triplets. I thought if she could do that with triplets then I needed to at least try,” says Jacqui. Fulfilling that objective meant waking up at four every morning in December and studying for six to eight hours a day.
Then she received the news that she had not only graduated cum laude, but would be receiving the Senate Gold Award as well. “My family was so proud of me and my son kept telling me I was the cleverest person in the world,” she says. Jacqui recalls her graduation at ZK Matthews Hall as a very emotional experience, but that she also felt a sense of peace for achieving what she had set out to do. At the insistence of her husband and son she has enrolled for a master’s degree. “I have many ideas, but ultimately want to use my thesis to help teachers improve the literacy level of all learners so that every child to be able to read and write to the best of their ability,” she explains.
*Written by Rajiv Kamal
