What do you do for fun?: "I climb mountains"

Guest blooger Roslyn Baatjies

I imagine that the answer to this question: ‘’So, prof what do you do for fun?’’, to NMMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Derrick Swartz would be, ‘’I climb mountains’’.

I thought about that this morning when the man himself spoke about his planned climb of Mount Fuji in Japan next month to raise funds for bursaries for our financially needy students.  He mentioned that he recently did mountaineering in Norway and that he was invited to climb Kilimanjaro with another group. Unfortunately the latter clashed with his university commitments.

As part of Prof Swartz's personal commitment to the University's 10-year celebrations, he will be climbing Mount Fuji in Japan on 7 August to raise funds for academically-deserving but financially-needy students at NMMU.

The poster for the VC's #climb4nmmu

The #climb4nmmu campaign will also give Prof Swartz the opportunity to highlight the extent of the need for financial support for such students especially within the Eastern Cape, which is recognised as the poorest province.

Prof Swartz's 3,7km climb will be symbolic of the challenges many students face in order to get a tertiary qualification such as perseverance, taking responsibility and integrity. There are 10 base camps leading up to the peak, one for each year of NMMU's first decade.

All funds will go to the University's Bursary Legacy Campaign run by the NMMU Trust. Their Ignite a Candle campaign is already supporting worthy students.

The University is hoping to raise at least R500 000 to support a further students for the duration of their degrees or diplomas.

"I studied at university because of the bursary support I received from people I never knew personally. My bursary was a gift from the past to the present.”

"I strongly believe that this is our generation's responsibility too. We can give back in thousands of different ways. The #climb4nmmu campaign is just one way,’’ says Prof Swartz.

The VC, Prof. Swartz during fitness test.

The VC addressing the media this morning.

Everyday mountains have a way of humbling us. It has a way of connecting us to ourselves, nature and to others, by simply being out there. Embracing adventure means knowing it’s not always going to turn out exactly the way we want it or expect it to and so are the mountains, just like life. 

So in the same way the daily challenges give our needy students a new perspective, we bid that our vice-chancellor will embrace this adventure and not only raise funds, but come back to NMMU with new ideas to challenge us and the status quo.

The University has created a dedicated website in support of the #climb4nmmu campaign. Go to http://trust.nmmu.ac.za/VC-s-Climb-Campaign

Opportunities galore for learners and students this recess

Guest blogger Roslyn Baatjies

For many learners school’s out, but for those who intend improving their marks and getting into university next year, there is no rest.

Driving into work this morning, we saw a number of young people entering the campuses and someone asked when lectures are ending. I responded that lectures have ended and that those young people were learners attending either the accounting or engineering winter schools or the Science Discovery Week at NMMU.

This week close to  900 Grade 11 and 12 learners will be exposed to the fascinating worlds of accounting, science and engineering over the June/July school holidays at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

The Science Discovery Week – that will be attended by 300 learners from 56 schools in the Eastern Cape - promises to open the eyes of Grade 11 and 12 learners to the intriguing fields of Science in a fun and informal setting. Daily activities will include visits to various Science Faculty departments where learners will participate in subject-specific experiments.

Offered for the past eight years, the event started off with 60 learners and has now grown to 300 participants. With topics like ‘’Game Changers - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Science”, “Light Fantastic” and ‘’Chemistry Unplugged‘’ learners will not only be educated, but also entertained.

NMMU’s Accounting winter school programme, geared towards helping Grade 11 and 12 pupils improve their marks and their chances of attending university, boasts an impressive track record.

Almost a third of the 520 pupils who attended last year’s Grade 12 winter school successfully registered for degrees or diplomas at NMMU. An analysis comparing their June matric results with their December results has revealed that many of them shot up by as much as 30%.

This year’s week-long Accounting winter school for Grade 12s, sponsored by Deloitte, takes place from June 29 to July 3, while the three-day Grade 11 winter school, sponsored by PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC), takes place from July 7 to 9.

The annual engineering winter school has been offered for the past 10 years and will take place from 12 to 17 July. The programme for 30 learners from 14 high schools will include, among others, visits to VWSA and Continental Tyre.

In addition, a winter school project with a difference will be held off-campus by the NMMU Department of Social Development Professions and driven by social work lecturer Dr Veonna Goliath.

Dr Goliath says the winter school is truly interdisciplinary in nature and has a longer term community development focus.

The project, located in the Northern Areas at Bethvale Primary School, was initiated by the Uniting Reformed church in Chatty and part of Dr Goliath’s  post-doctoral work. From Monday 29 June to Thursday 2 July 2015 tutors from mainly the Faculty of Education’s postgraduate programme will tutor Grade 10 and 11 learners in specific subjects.

And in rural Eastern Cape, our SRC is making information accessible in a bid to assist high school learners in raising their awareness of matters relating to access to higher education.

At NMMU there definitely is no lack of opportunities to share or gain knowledge. 

Lights, action … & proud to be a NMMU ambassador

Guest blogger Khanyisa Melwa

Those who have known me since my teenage years will remember my longing to become an actor (I did drama from the age of 12). However, owing to many reasons, one of which was financial constraints, I was not able to pursue this career.

But alas, this was no hindrance for me; I enrolled at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University to study towards a BA degree, which I then changed at the end of my first year to pursue a Diploma in Public Relations Management. I am currently in my third year of Public Relations, completing my in-service training and I couldn’t be happier.

“Happy” would be an understatement to describe how I felt when I received an e-mail informing me that I had been selected as one of 20 NMMU ambassadors “actors” for a Vision2020 promotional video. Elated I was, I thought “yes, my dreams of becoming an actor are finally coming true!”

Fast-forward a few weeks later … there I was being pampered with manicures and flying in private jets. I was living the life, I tell you! All lies of course, but I did have a good time on set.

It began with a session of being “prettied up” (this is code for applying make-up). Something I haven’t done since my theatre days, and naturally, nostalgia took over. I was also charged with the challenge of being as natural as possible and not sounding so rehearsed, like the drama king that I am.

After the make-up session, it was show-time!

Yours truly doing his thing

I walked onto the set and boy, was this not theatre?! The only piece of equipment I recognised was the lapel mike they strapped to my clothes. Everything else was foreign to me. I was then shown where to stand, and again, nature took its course and I was now overcome with anxiety and nerves. A feeling every thespian, or rather actor/performer feels before a performance. There I was lights, camera, teleprompter and action!

“Uniquely, our university carries the name of one of the world’s most iconic leaders, Nelson Mandela, whose ideals have inspired NMMU’s values, curriculum and mission.” That was my line.

After about three takes of saying this piece of prose, a few slip-ups here and there and it finally hit me.

After all the theatrics, it was then that I began to heed the significance of being a part of a new generation university that looks to produce students who are well-rounded and capable of success anywhere in the world.

The promotional video is part of our bid to celebrate 10 years as a university but also to forward to achieving Vision2020. One of the objectives of our strategic plan to be a great university is that of “improving business processes, systems and infrastructure to promote a vibrant staff and student life”.

We need only look at the newly erected Business School on Second Avenue Campus, the Engineering Building on North Campus and the Human Movement Science building on South Campus, to name a few, to find evidence of this.

After another reading of prose, my fifteen minutes of fame was officially over. I was now not only an NMMU student and staff member, but an NMMU ambassador too. A title I so proudly carry.

NMMU Media Honours student Jonathan Fryer on set for the new Vision2020 video

NMMU lecturer Kathija Adam