Carley Lomax is a visually impaired student at the University of Pretoria and an avid athlete with ambitions of representing South Africa at the Paralympics in Rio later this year.
She said it was not an easy process earning her degree while juggling her academic and sporting commitments.
"It was a tough journey because a master's has a lot of research, writing up notes and documents.
"For me it was challenging because it takes longer to do research and things like that because I use software and I don't see things immediately as other people would.
"It was a big challenge juggling academic and sporting activities. I had to have good time management as I'm very passionate about my sporting activities and academia so I was determined to fit them both in."
Lomax said she was born partially blind but she had never let that stop her from achieving her goals and dreams.
In 2007 she joined TuksAthletics to compete in the 100m, 200m, and long jump events while pursuing her academics.
She represented Tuks at numerous University Sports South Africa championships. She represented South African at the International Blind Sports Association (IBSA) athletics world championships in 2007 and was selected to participate in the 2015 All Africa Games.
In 2013 Lomax was selected as a finalist for the Gauteng Sports Awards in the Female Athlete with a Disability category.
Training for Rio 2016
She is now training to qualify for Rio later this year.
"I'm training really hard to qualify for the 2016 Rio Paralympic games and represent the country. I have had this dream ever since I was young and what inspired it even more was when I was selected to represent South Africa at the IBSA world championships in 2007.
"When I found out that the actual Olympics will be in Rio it really drove me to want to qualify," she said.
Academically, Lomax obtained her BSport Science degree in 2011 followed by a BA HMS honours in Recreation and Corporate Wellness in 2012. She then continued with her postgraduate studies and did a MA degree in Recreation and Sport Management which she will be getting on Wednesday.
She is currently doing a postgraduate certificate in education at the University of Pretoria as she aspires to become a school teacher.
She hopes the platform will allow her to combine her sport science and fitness knowledge to assist with the development of sports in local schools.
"You must never give up. Anything is possible if you set your mind to it. I feel challenges are there to test one's boundaries and I believe anyone who sets their mind to it can overcome any boundary regardless of what it is."
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