What it means to be 10

Always reason to celebrate ... 

That’s us. We’re 10. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) is a decade old!

And like most ten-year-olds we’re on the cusp of something bigger as we enter our tweens, and then fully-fledged adulthood as a university deserving of recognition.

But for now we’re ten. We’ve survived the knocks, bumps and bruises of childhood. We’ve scraped our knees a few times and even suffered a bloody nose for a serious lapse in behaviour. However, for the most part, we’ve relished our childhood and learnt to handle ourselves without too much help.

We’ve won a few prizes along the way, established some life-long friendships, built some pretty imposing sandcastles (have you seen all our new buildings?) and, for the most part, we’re appreciative of what we’ve received.

We’re pretty independent by now; we can stand on our own two feet and hold our head high.

But we’re only ten. And when you’re ten, parties and celebrations are still big on the lifestyle agenda. We like it when we can get together with friends to recognise special occasions.

That is why NMMU is lining up as many as ten different occasions for celebration – starting on Tuesday 10 February.

On that day staff and students are being invited to take stock, and come up with a personal list of 10 things they would like to achieve during NMMU’s big birthday year. (You can find a branded A4 sheet for this on the following link )

The list is aimed at motivating staff and students for an exciting year ahead and for giving everyone direction. The ten goals can be personal, institutional or a combination of both.

So what are your ten goals for 2015?

We’d like to celebrate our first decade on the 10th day of every month (well, at least the ones that fall in the week and outside of university holidays) and are seeking celebratory ideas – things that bring folk together and involve our values of respect for the natural environment, integrity, excellence, respect for diversity and Ubuntu.

In the interim, however, apart from your list of goals for 2015 with everything from “walking three times a week” to “starting to study again”, we’re bringing on a little music.

AlgoaFM – one of those with whom we have built a friendship – will be bringing their festive sounds to the Kraal on South Campus from 10am on Tuesday, 10 February. During their outside broadcast they will also witness the symbolic release of balloons by members of our Student Representative Council (SRC) to celebrate our first ten years.

Well, we’re ten, aren’t we? And we still like balloons too.

Happy birthday NMMU!