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SPU welcomes 2022 cohort into Talent Pipeline Programme

Back: The Grade 12 Talent Pipeline Programme (TPP) learners and their mentors. Front row (left to right): Mr Otsile Seakeco, TPP Programme Coordinator; Ms Puleng Motsamai, TPP Programme Coordinator; Dr Jody Cedras, University Registrar; Judge Steven Majiedt, SPU Chancellor; Ms Josephine Pieters, De Beers; Judge Yvonne Mokgoro, former SPU Chair of Council and TPP Patron; Prof Andrew Crouch, SPU Vice-Chancellor and Principal; Ms Simangele Soni, De Beers.

Sol Plaatje University’s (SPU) Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Andrew Crouch recently hosted the March 2022 SPU Talent Pipeline Programme (TPP) Welcome Dinner, at which he welcomed 78 learners from various schools across the Northern Cape to the programme.

The TPP was launched in October 2021 and aims to identify the top-performing high school learners in grades 10, 11 and 12 from a broad range of schools across the province. These learners are invited to enrol in a school holiday programme at SPU during which they receive refresher courses on their school curriculum and take part in psycho-social educational enrichment programmes to prepare them for tertiary studies.

The 37 new learners in the latest intake join last year’s grade 10 learners (who are now in grade 11) and last year’s grade 11 learners who are now in grade 12. The new learners include top performers from Daniëlskuil High School in Daniëlskuil, Umso High School in Colesberg, De Aar and Monwabisi High Schools in De Aar, and Hoërskool Diamantveld, Kimberley High School, Tetlanyo Secondary School, Borestse High School, and Vuyolwethu High School in Kimberley.

Dignitaries at the TPP Welcome Dinner included the SPU Chancellor Judge Steven Majiedt and the former Chair of Council and TPP Patron, Judge Yvonne Mokgoro. Representatives of the De Beers Group, the anchor funder of the programme, were also in attendance.

“If this is your first visit, may it not be the last,” Prof Crouch told the learners, before outlining the exciting programme they will participate in over a two- or three-year period. “We aim to create a pool of learners which has a better opportunity to pass matric with a bachelor’s pass, thereby enabling the learner to enter into university – and we hope you will choose SPU!”

He added, “Research has shown that a single graduate from a university has an immediate impact on the lives of ten others when they return to their communities. One graduate from a rural community can therefore be seen to be a catalyst for economic growth in that environment. This is important to break the cycle of poverty and inequality in our province and our country.”

Ms Josephine Pieters of the De Beers Group reminded the learners of the importance of thankfulness. “Be thankful for your life, for the leaders that are here at this university, thankful that they are passionate and care about the community and care about you. You can regress easily if you are not thankful. Always remember the words of the great American poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou: ‘Be present in all things and thankful for all things.’”

Judge Mokgoro shared personal anecdotes with the learners. “In this world you can be anyone you want to be. I’ve always been part of this town. Today I’ve been everywhere – and I am still part of this town. I look at you and I see myself in you. I want you to remember that it’s possible to go anywhere and be anything.”

She reminded the TPP cohort that they were carefully chosen for a clear purpose. “You must make an effort so that this programme becomes a legacy for those that come after you. But to make a success of yourself and those around you, you must want to succeed. You must grow a passion to want to succeed. When you reach that stage where things seem impossible, persevere and want it even more. Because you want it so badly, you will make it because of your effort.”

She said that other people recognising her talents and helping her to capitalise on them was a formative ingredient for her success in life. “I knew if I succeed it will give an opportunity to those around me and those that come after me. We started this programme to make young people servants of the world, so in everything you do make sure that you do it to serve the world.”

Back: The Grade 11 Talent Pipeline Programme (TPP) learners and their mentors. Front row (left to right): Mr Otsile Seakeco, TPP Programme Coordinator; Ms Puleng Motsamai, TPP Programme Coordinator; Dr Jody Cedras, University Registrar; Judge Steven Majiedt, SPU Chancellor; Ms Josephine Pieters, De Beers; Judge Yvonne Mokgoro, former SPU Chair of Council and TPP Patron; Prof Andrew Crouch, SPU Vice-Chancellor and Principal; Ms Simangele Soni, De Beers.

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