Redhill matriculant goes outdoors for inspiration

JORDAN MOSHE

In spite of the demands of matric, Fine believed the outside world should be embraced and not shut out.

“Since I can remember, I have had a special connection with nature,” he says. “Apparently my first word was ‘spider’, and because my parents are allergic to virtually every kind of cat and dog, the pets I’ve had have been everything but standard, including hedgehogs, lizards, and others.”

After attending Parkview Primary, Fine enrolled at Redhill at the beginning of high school because he liked its ethos of community, diversity, and small class sizes.

With a chemical engineer for a father, he was fascinated by the sciences and biology, both subjects to which he was drawn when he started Grade 10. Although he also took up accounting and IT, his heart lay in the study of the world and its natural wonders.

“IT intrigued me, and because I enjoy the mathematical elements of problem solving, I took it,” he says. “But I ended up dropping it in Grade 11 when the workload became too much, and I kept to biology and science. I wanted them to remain my focus.”

In spite of the academic challenges presented by his Grade 11 year, Fine didn’t think twice when elected to head up Redhill’s environmental committee. He held this position for the final third of the Grade 11 year, and two-thirds of matric, working with 10 other students on the committee in devising and running various environmental-welfare initiatives and similar campaigns.

He explains, “I was excited to be part of a committee that aligned with my passion, and which could make a difference.

“Involvement in a committee like this during matric is really special. It makes you attach value to your time, and evaluate what is meaningful and what isn’t. You learn how to work with others and combine your efforts to do something significant.”

Beyond his environmental contributions, Fine also maintained his school sporting career during matric, serving as vice-captain of Redhill’s basketball and hockey teams.

Fine remained equally committed to his academic endeavours. Admitting to being a less-than-diligent student at the outset of the year, he found that he learned how to rely on himself and on his abilities. “In the end, it’s all up to you,” he says. “You trust your teachers to do their part, but they cannot see you through it.”

The key, he says, is to find an energising outlet that rejuvenates you and gives you the necessary spirit that matric requires. For Fine, it was spending time in nature. “Whenever I was studying, I really wanted to be sitting on the beach doing nothing else,” he laughs. “But, whenever I could, I’d spend time fishing with my brother or doing something outdoors that would recharge me and give me what I needed to continue. Some people draw their energy from socialising, some from sport, and some from exercise. Find your source and use it.”

Beyond scoring seven distinctions in his final exams and coming eighth in South Africa in the Biology Olympiad, he believes the environmental committee had a tremendous impact on the school.

“When we started our term, there was a general feeling that the environmental committee didn’t do that much. By the time we stepped down, we had changed that perception and shown people that we could actually do things that make a difference to our environment. We showed them that change was possible.”

Although he considered studying overseas, and has sat the SAT tests for admission, Fine’s love for South Africa and her oceans has determined that he will pursue a degree in chemical engineering at the University of Cape Town this year. In spite of initially considering studying zoology or marine biology, he believes that this choice equally enables him to make positive contributions to the natural world.

“The ocean is always close to my heart,” he says. “Not only will I be living near it, but I’ll be trying to find ways to make it and the natural world at large a better place. Chemical engineering hasn’t closed any doors to working with the environment. It has given me a different way to make a contribution.”