Calvin wants to be a writer

 

Calvin Stevens achieved seven distinctions in matric last year, a feat that surprised him a bit.

“I expected five or six and in the end, I only missed out in Mathematics, I’m delighted with that,” he said. “I never really expected a distinction for Maths, that’s not the way my mind works, I find I’m much better at the languages and History and Geography.”

Among his distinctions was 90% in Further Studies English, an achievement he is very proud of. “I believe I am the first Jeppe learner to get an A in that subject,” he said.

And those are the subjects he will be doing at Wits this year where he is enrolled for a BA Humanities degree. “To tell you the truth, my dream is to be a published author, and I think a degree in languages and philosophy will be a good grounding for that,” he said.

Calvin has already written two novels and he is close to finishing a third. “I’m polishing them and will be looking at ways of getting them published this year.” His extra-curricular interests reflected his love of writing. He was in the school’s Creative Writing club and on the school newspaper.

He also played chess and tennis, and he believes having a balance played a part in his academic success. “You will always succeed when you enjoy what you are doing and I loved being involved in various aspects of school life,” he said.

His advice to this year’s matrics is that they need to do some work every day of the year and, above all else, they must develop a love for reading and make it a habit.

We are going to see a Calvin Stevens novel on the bookstore shelves shortly – there’s little doubt about that.