At 16 years old, Yeldy Luchmun has a lot of energy. Coming from a modest family, she has just won a full scholarship from the United World Colleges (UWC) to pursue her bachelor’s degree in Tanzania. Meet this Grand Bay resident who just got 7 A+ and one A in the last School Certificate (SC) exams.
Yeldy is not one to give up. No. When she wants something, she goes all the way. Her student life is proof of that.
It is at the Cosmopolitan College in Plaine des Papayes that Yeldy did her secondary studies. At the beginning, far from being a brilliant student, it is her rage to succeed and her financial situation that pushed her to improve herself: “I come from a very modest family. My father is a tailor and my mother is a housewife. It was not at all easy for my parents to find the means to buy my textbooks and notebooks. However, Cosmopolitan College covered all of these costs if a student placed first in all subjects. That was the trigger for me. In order to save my parents from this financial burden, I decided to work hard with the help of my teachers. So, from form 2 to my SC, my parents did not have to buy my books since I was always the first in class in all subjects.”
With big plans, and always with an eye toward relieving her parents financially, Yeldy would spend hours looking for an international school to continue her education, “I always wanted to continue my education in another country. I always wanted to study in another country, but again, I knew that finances would be a problem. So it was imperative that I find a way to get a scholarship. And that’s when I came across the UWC national committee, which sends 4 Mauritian students to pursue their Baccalaureate abroad. I applied and was accepted. Knowing that I couldn’t afford it, the national committee financed my trip so that I could live my dream.”
Yeldy has been studying in Tanzania since the beginning of August and has no intention of stopping there: “I am a literature and history buff. I could see myself as a writer or historian in the future. And if all goes well, I plan to continue my studies at Harvard University in the United States. It’s not impossible for me.”
