Orientation Week
Date: 2 February – 10 February
Registration
SRC Introduction at Monument
RU Jamming
Purple Thursday (with Alumni House)
First Years Picnic (with RMR)
Other events on the program SRC Orientation Week Program:
Activism and Transformation Workshop (headed by Activism and Transformation Councillor)
Society Extravaganza and Amazing Race (headed by Sports and Societies Councillor)
Community Engagement Extravaganza (headed by Community Engagement Councillor)
Environmental Extravaganza (headed by Environmental Councillor)
Objective: to create a week that gives students a glimpse into the life that they will experience at Rhodes University. To show them the importance of prioritising their academics, their personal well-being, their recreational time, and having discussions on issues that are important to them, and other things.
That is why the events/discussions hosted during orientation week were centred around the above mentioned points. Failures and Successes of Orientation week are stated in the extended Orientation Week Report which I submitted to the Student Services Council in Term 1.
Movie Trip
Took 60 students to go watch the Black Panther movie
Objective: to do something fun outside Grahamstown in honour of Black History Month and to support an all Black African cast movie.
Failures: There were complications with the bus company as to which bus to use. And there were students who arrived late, cutting away from the free time that could’ve been spent at the destination before the movie began.
A free screening of the movie was supposed to be organised by the SRC as soon as the movie came out in HD; however, by the time the movie came out in HD, the SRC was very busy with the Great Field Party preparations. A movie screening will then be organised for the third academic term.
Great Field Party
Focus of Term 2 has been on organising the Great Field Party and getting tickets sold
Date: 5 May 2018
Venue: Great Field (behind the Steve Biko Union Building)
Time: 15:00 – 01:00
The event was outsourced to a service provider. The service provider organised the event and the SRC hosted it for the students.
The Great Field Party was initially planned to be on 3 March, but due to a delay in planning and having the relevant meetings for it, the event had to be moved to 5 May 2018.
Overall, the event was a success. The attendance by students was much appreciated, and a report will be compiled for the 2019 SRC to use as a guideline when they prepare for their Great Field party, considering all the failures and successes that occurred.
The target of 3,500 tickets to be sold was not reached, and this may affect the decisions that management takes in allowing for a great field party to happen in future years. A meeting with the service provider still needs to be held to discuss the total amount of tickets sold and any other contractual matters.
Other Projects:
At the beginning of the year, a spelling bee was intended to be organised within the portfolio of the projects manager. Unfortunately, due to the limited amount of time left for the year, it would be better to rather use the rest of this year to organise and formulate to spelling bee competition, then implement it next year, 2019. So, the spelling bee will occur in the year 2019 and hopefully continue to occur in the years to follow as an annual project adopted by the future elected SRCs.
In place of the spelling bee, a reading day with primary schools in the under-developed communities will be organised, so that the main objective of improving child literacy can still be achieved by the end of the year.
The SRC hosted the SupUrban market with Philipa Irvine on 3 March 2018 by the Drostdy Lawns
Purple Thursday Dates:
- 8 February with the Alumni House and Debonaires
- 1 March
- 15 March with the Alumni House for Give Five
- 26 April for Great Field Party
- 10 May for the Noodle Drive
- 17 May for the Ubuntu Fund for the Clothing collection/donation
- 24 May with the International Office for International Week
Meetings Attended
- Safety and Events Committee Meeting for Varsity Shield and Great Field Party
- Give Five Committee Meeting at the Alumni House
- Meetings with the Service Provider for the Great Field Party on a weekly basis
- Meeting with the Vice Chancellor – Dr Mabizela, Dr Boughey, and Director of Student Affairs – Mam’Noma on Intervarsity
- Weekly SRC Council Meetings
- One Student Services Council meeting
- One Student Parliament Meeting
- One Student Body Meeting
Other
- Attended the Vice Chancellor community engagement lecture, and the Community Engagement Councillor presentation during the Community Engagement week
- Assisted in painting of the Library Stairs during the Disability Week
- Attended the International Parade and the Immigration update lecture during International week.
- Assisted in the organising of the Winnie Mandela Vigil
- Attended the Renaming ceremony for the three residences
- Attended the Handing Over of the Give Five Prize to Founders Hall.
Reports
The two main reports which had to be written were that for Orientation Week and that for the Great Field Party.