Discipline was a painful process BUT with a WONDERFUL outcome!

The star of the graduation event was no other than the young graduating engineer who gave the Valedictorian speech , Emmanuel Pax Makhura. The young man scooped three awards as the Best Student in the Department of Chemical, Materials & Metallurgical Engineering, Best Student in the Faculty of Engineering and Best Overall Student -Chancellors Award. The promising Molalatau born engineer started his speech by sharing his humble background and how his sisters had advised and encouraged him to must always set my own targets and work HARD to make sure I achieve them.

“Did I listen to them? NOOOO!, Some friends a few years older than I am offered me what I considered better advice. They said: tertiary is “a walk over”. They said “when it comes to attending classes, I can choose whenever I wish to attend.” he said .

After failing his early exams, he took up his sisters advice and became more focused and determined. He shared with the guests in attendance at the graduation ceremony how he had worked hard and made sacrifices such as overlooking family gatherings in pursuit of better grades.

“To succeed at BIUST, I had to use the power of choice which was before me, for tomorrow might have been too late for my aspirations. I chose to divert my attention to my academics and kept my dream alive by marrying my books, committing to complete my assignments on time, and divorcing the things that were a hindrance to my dream. And it was not easy (it was painful). I found out that discipline was a painful process but with a wonderful outcome! My advice to current BIUST students is this – Never believe that there is time. Those who make best use of time, they grow and rise in life. Those who waste their time, they lag behind. They fail to make any mark in life.” he encouraged.

The Valedictorian went on to share some of his projects during his tenure at BIUST such as

taking part in the 2017 BIUST Research Symposium with a project on the pyrolysis of plastics.

His Biogas project secured him a position as a top-5 finalist in the 2018 CEDA/DBSA University Entrepreneurship Challenge. He also cited a project on printing inks that had already secured him a position in the top-50 of KBL’s Kgalagadi Breweries Kickstart Youth Entrepreneurship Program. He has also have written 5 academic papers, 3 of which are awaiting publication and is currently working on a book on Basic Process Engineering Control with my professor: Paul Agachi.

In an interview with Engineer Magazine he was quizzed on his journey to Biust. He said,“I wanted to pursue my studies abroad but because of the 48 points that I had obtained I didn’t manage to go abroad. So I came to BIUST to pursue my dream of being an Engineer.”He also highlighted that he was specifically interested in the renewable energy sector as he believes that he has the potential to improve the state of the nation.The publication asked him if he had any advice for the other graduates, Emmanuel said,” we have received great education at BIUST so we should not go back to society and seat on those degrees. We can use our knowledge acquired to better lives of Batswana

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