Community Engagement at Rhodes University celebrated graduation with a few of their student leaders and CE community! A huge congratulations to the student leaders, volunteers, mentees and mentors who graduated this week! Let's take the opportunity to introduce one of our graduates and RUCE team members, Melody Chauke, and student leader, Takudzwa Makuwa!
MEET MELODY CHAUKE, past Community Engagement Gold Award winner, current RUCE team member and postgraduate student and 2023 Rhodes University graduate!
“Graduation was definitely exciting for me!” said the dynamic young leader. “The ceremony was held at the Monument and it was very emotional to see all the parents celebrating their children's achievements. I felt so proud and happy walking across the stage to receive my degree. I am also looking forward to graduating again next year!”
Melody has been involved in Community Engagement since her first year at Rhodes. “The first program that I joined under the RUCE office was the BuddingQ program. Following that I gained more interest in CE after learning more about what community engagement is all about. I then commenced to my other academic years, this is when I started growing and becoming socially conscious and aware of my community. During my second year, I decided to get more involved and volunteered under BuddingQ, ECP, Residence CE Representative and a Student Society's CE Rep. I started seeing a lot of personal growth and gained a lot of confidence. It felt good knowing my community and realising how I can be part of social justice while also gaining knowledge and experience during the process,” says Melody.
Beyond the satisfaction of contributing to the development of her new community during her stay in Makhanda, Community Engagement volunteerism (Engaged Citizenry) has facilitated an opportunity to grow graduate attributes among volunteers and student leaders (volunteer team leaders).
“CE has also shaped my academic framework in terms of helping me develop new research ideas and ensuring that my research is grounded on something that will be useful to my community. I also developed a lot through knowledge sharing with community partners and other students. The methods of knowledge gain involve exchange of experiences and perspectives.”
Melody is still very much involved with RUCE and plans on staying involved as a volunteer until completing her full term at Rhodes University.
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MEET BOOTS, past Community Engagement Gold Award finalist, current RUCE student leader, MA student and 2023 Rhodes University Honours graduate!
A familiar friendly face among the Community Engagement space, Takudzwa Boots Makuwa leads by example, inspiring his team to face everyday with a positive attitude. Takudza celebrated his second graduation, achieving a Honours in Financial markets. He is now a Masters student and remains a committed community engagement student leader.
Boots first got involved in community engagement with a dual role as both a Community Engagement and Environmental Representative in his University residence. Initially, these roles simply made for great references on his CV. However, as a natural people-person, it didn't take long for Boots to find meaning behind community engagement - authentically engaging with and learning from his new Makhanda community - community partners, fellow volunteers and everyone involved in making programmes happen.