From donating stationary packs to learners to handing out food parcels. From a beach clean-up to presenting a sports day. From planting seeds to having fun day with play therapy and face painting.
These are some of the activities that more than 5 000 newcomer Matie students will be participating as part of the annual Social Impact Community Morning at Stellenbosch University (SU) tomorrow (Thursday 8 February). The Community Morning forms part of the institution’s official welcoming programme for newcomers.
Some 24 residences and private wards (commuting student communities) or groups thereof, will be participating in the initiative with students planning to participate in an array of engaged activities – all planned in collaboration with community partners and student leaders.
SU’s Division Social Impact annually offers students the opportunity to engage in activities with the aim of encouraging active citizenship, through sharing their academic knowledge with other organisations and partners within the Stellenbosch community as well as within the Tygerberg medical campus and surrounding areas.
Together with the Centre for Student Life and Learning in the university’s Division for Student Affairs, the Division Social Impact is excited about the possibilities of being relevant to the critical issues and challenges facing South African societies and communities.
The initiative also links well with the SU vision of, among others, advancing knowledge in service of society, the university’s mission of enriching local communities, and the strategic theme of building purposeful partnerships and inclusive networks within the surrounding communities of the SU.
The theme of morning is captured in enabling students to engage with SU’s commitment towards enabling social impact; why and how the university connects with the surrounding communities; and creating a greater awareness around how critical real-life challenges can be addressed through the Sustainable Development Goals.
“The mandate of Division Social Impact is to support, enhance and enable volunteer opportunities for students at SU, while expanding the footprint of SU within the surrounding communities,” explained Renee Hector-Kannemeyer, deputy director of the SU Division Social Impact. “Most importantly, to commit to the university’s Vision 2040, positioning ourselves for the future and developing students into 21st-century citizens and enabling a transformative student experience in order to transform the world.”
