FHS students shine at leadership awards
UCT raised a glass to some of its most accomplished young role models at the annual Student Leadership Awards, held in partnership with Investec, on 13 October 2015. Students who showed outstanding leadership abilities in a range of categories were celebrated and encouraged in equal measure on the night. Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price and keynote speaker Setlogane Manchidi imparted words of both congratulations and trust in the students’ resolve to use their potential to do as much good for society as they could. As in previous years, students from the Faculty of Health Sciences received several awards demonstrating excellence in service to their academic and local communities.
Awards were made in five categories:
- Social responsiveness awards
- Leadership excellence awards
- Executive awards
- Team awards
- Additional awards
SOCIAL RESPONSIVENESS AWARDS
Priyanka Naidu, president of the SHAWCO Health Steering Committee; Carol Dlamini; Sarah Oliver, chair of Ubunye Development Agency; and Hugh Stevenson, chair of Green Campus Initiative.
PRIYANKA NAIDU
President of the SHAWCO Health Steering Committee
As president of one of the country’s largest student volunteer health and welfare organisations, Priyanka Naidu has overseen the development of several successful pilot projects. These include the implementation of social work services at weekday health clinics, spearheading a social media campaign against xenophobia, piloting a Mandela Day initiative, providing screening and health promotion to the Southfield Community with doctors at Victoria Hospital, piloting a smoking secession support group at Du Noon in Milnerton, and introducing workshops to aid student teaching.
LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Danielle Ferrar, president of the UCT Surgical Society and the International Association of Student Surgical Societies, with Prof Francis Petersen.
DANIELLE FERRAR
President of the UCT Surgical Society and the International Association of Student Surgical Societies
Danielle Ferrar, a final-year medical student, convened a host of skills workshops, educational talks, academic meetings, sponsorships, and research projects in her role as president of her society. On an international level, she convened a successful conference in Brisbane, Australia, to further build a global network of inter-societal partnerships of Surgical Societies. Her council initiated several projects – including the Health Aid for Refugee Project and Cederberg Outreach – and worked to overturn gender stereotypes through their Women in Surgery programme. For the first time this past year, the committee achieved an almost equal split of seven women to eight men.
EXECUTIVE AWARDS
Amy Booth, incoming vice-president of UCT Surgical Society, with Prof Anwar Mall.
DEPUTY VICE-CHANCELLOR'S AWARD
AMY BOOTH
â¨Incoming vice-president of UCT Surgical Society
A third-year medical student, Amy Booth played a pivotal role as the head of the outreach portfolio for the UCT Surgical Society and single-handedly founded two key projects: the Health Aid for Refugee Project and the Cederberg Outreach clinic for farm workers. Her refugee project won the Student Projects for Health Competition, and as a consequence she was invited to attend the Bambanani Education for Change Conference where she showcased UCT internationally. She also revitalised the society’s schools project and assisted the breast cancer organisation, Project Flamingo, while working on the SHAWCO Health Clinic committee in Khayelitsha and on the Rochester House Residence Management Team. She was recently elected the incoming vice-president of the UCT Surgical Society, making her the youngest person to achieve this role yet.
TEAM AWARDS
UCT Surgical Society, with Ms Sinsi Nthsongwana.
MOST OUTSTANDING SOCIETY EXECUTIVE AWARD
UCT Student Surgical Society
This society’s membership has grown to a noteworthy 608 members, ensuring it is still the leading society in its faculty. The society introduced a three-part orthopaedic surgical course this year – the first of its kind – while increasing the frequency and quality of their traditional and advanced skills workshops. Special mention was made of their prominent role in the ongoing success of the International Association of Student Surgical Societies, which it helped establish last year. This year the association met in Brisbane, Australia, where UCT was well represented.
UCT Surgical Society, with Prof Sakela Buhlungu.
UCT STUDENT TEAM OF THE YEAR AWARD
UCT Student Surgical Society
This society has helped promote UCT’s vision, mission and values with its many projects. These include a schools project, which creates awareness of medicine as a degree among disadvantaged learners in the Western Cape, a shadowing programme with specialist surgeons, expanding the Women in Surgery programme to encourage gender quality, piloting the Health Aid for Refugee Project in collaboration with the Cape Town Refugee Centre, launching a farm workers’ clinic in the Cederberg, and assisting with the Flamingo Project for breast cancer patients at Groote Schuur Hospital.
ADDITIONAL AWARDS
KERRY CAPSTICK-DALE STUDENT LEADERSHIP AWARDS
DANIELLE FERRAR
President of the UCT Surgical Society
Danielle Ferrar joined UCT as a medical student in 2010 and signed up with Surgical Society in her first year. As a committee member for three years, she headed the outreach portfolio and initiated a Cederberg project for farm workers. In her role as society secretary, she helped put together an international symposium in Cape Town in 2014, where she was elected president of the UCT Surgical Society. In 2015, she helped to organise a similar gathering in Brisbane Australia but could not attend due to academic commitments. She has also been an active member of SHAWCO Health and served on the Simthandile Clinic Project committee, all the while maintaining an excellent academic record.
ACKERMAN FAMILY AWARD
OLIVIA WILKINSON
A speech therapy student, Olivia Wilkinson has been involved in UCT student life in a number of areas. She represented her peers on the Rochester House Committee as Academic Representative, took up a role on the Residence Tutors’ Council and was one of the only students to serve on the Residence Academic Development Committee. She joined RAG in 2013, became project manager the following year and ultimately progressed to the position of vice chair responsible for operations, logistics and risk.