Hello everyone. My name is Theo Jacobs.
I was introduced to MOT when I started my first year of High School at COSAT. Being at a new school, I was afraid to speak to others and make friends.
In grade 9, I started coming out of my shell and being more confident in myself and in my speech. I was selected to attend the Young MOTivators’ Education. This came very unexpectedly because I never thought of myself as a potential nor was I an intelligent student.
At the Young MOTivators’ Education, I was introduced to many other inspiring MOT Youth from other schools. I discovered that I am an extrovert, which I then used to my advantage.
We then returned to our schools as Young MOTivators, which are youth leaders, and then we put to use the skills learned, in our school and in the society which also included contributing to Courage to Care Day. We took over from the general workers at the school and cleaned the entire school. We also hosted a fundraising day and all proceeds went to a school of our choice.
In grade 10, I become a MOT Mentor and assisted all the new Young MOTivators along with my other peers on becoming a better leader.
One of the MOT core values, the Courage to say no came in as a powerful tool where I had the courage to say no to people who wanted me to participate in bad things. I continued to apply the MOT values and was selected to represent my school in a national camp in Johannesburg. Even after high school, I continued to apply the MOT values in my daily life and in the community and I now realize that this has brought me many great opportunities.
I was selected by MOT SA to do the Professional Public Speaking course managed by MOT Brand Ambassador, Simon Ekin, who is also my mentor. Using these skills, I am now able to make a big difference.
I never achieved a bachelor pass in high school, which made me really sad as I thought I would never be able to do a degree. But then this year I got accepted and started studying at TSIBA Business School doing my Bachelor Degree in Business Administration, which is a tertiary school for business and also a private university. I was then selected to be a part of the Student Representative Council (SRC) and to be a part of the Rosenheim University of Applied Sciences exchange in Germany.
MOT allowed me to be myself and being myself touched so many people. MOT taught me to never give up in life and to be strong.
I am thankful for all the opportunities MOT has brought in my life and I will continue to use the tools I learned from MOT and during my course with Simon.
Thanks to the whole MOT team who made me believe in myself.