SSP alum a recipient of Investec Rhodes Top 100 Students Award
Inspired by the Mail and Guardian’s list of 200 Young South Africans, the Investec Rhodes Top 100 Students is an annual award for students who have excelled during their time at Rhodes University.
The awards incorporate the prestigious Dean of Students Leadership Award and honour achievements in areas such as Arts, Culture and Media, Sport, Academics, Community Engagement and General Excellence.This year the Oppidan Press received about 600 applications of which 200 were nominations by the Rhodes University staff, such as lecturers and heads of departments.
Nomlando Lukeleni, SSP alumna, was nominated by the Head of the Sports Department, Mandla Gagayi, under the Sports category for this award. This year, for the top 100, the sports panel had to choose only 6 students that excelled in sport but were also excelling in other disciplines of the university, such as leadership and academics, as this is a requirement.
When the Oppidan Investec Rhodes Top 100 edition was published, Lando says she was extremely excited to see her name. “It was a great honour to receive this prestigious award in recognition of all the hard work and effort I’ve put in,” says Lando.
SSP congratulates Nomlando on her achievements and wishes her continued success!
***************************************************************************************************************
Christine Moeketsi at the President’s Award for Youth Empowerment
Christine, second from left, in Kenya for the President's Award
Christine Moeketsi, SSP alum, who is currently studying towards a BCom Accounting degree at Rhodes University, recently came back from Kenya where she was representing South Africa at the President's Award for Youth Empowerment. Of her experience, she writes:
The President’s Award for Youth Empowerment is a programme designed to challenge the youth’s perception about themselves through its four pillars: skills development, physical recreation, community engagement, and the adventurous journey. The President’s Award is part of a larger international family – The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award for Young People. Every three years an International Gold Event (IGE) is held. The IGE is the premier Youth Leadership Summit of the International Award Association which operates in over 130 countries around the world, 25 of which are in Africa.
This year the event was hosted by the President’s Award in Kenya and I, along with three other delegates, got to represent South Africa. The event ran from 2 to 16 September 2011, with a running theme EACH ONE, REACH ONE.
Over the course of two weeks we had workshops with ranging topics: fundraising, governance, decision-making, policy, youth training, reaching goals (communication) and reaching the world. Every night different geographical regions would present and teach us about their countries. For the Friday and Saturday, we were now tasked with our community engagement. Each delegate picked a service project to get involved in from the four service projects which were located around Naivasha.
In just two weeks, we had accumulated a lifetime of memories and a list of amazing experiences, and I definitely feel empowered to make a difference in our country - EACH ONE, REACH ONE!
