A master's student in Education (Chemistry) in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Micke Reynders, turned a crisis into an opportunity to help others.

Micke created The Noble Chemist, an online education and chemistry skills development platform during the initial COVID-19 lockdown period to encourage students and teachers to continue their learning in South Africa and all over the world.

"I want to help students use their time to develop professional learning skills to study chemistry and acquire chemistry knowledge, skills, and develop a passion for science," Micke explained her initiative.

"I always wanted to be a scientist, some environmentalist or climate change activist, but my life changed completely when I discovered chemistry. I realised that there is such perfect order created by an intelligent designer amongst all the chaos around us. I am on this journey of discovery, and the more I learn, the more I want to share my knowledge. Scientific truths aren't always objective – it is in us and influenced by us. We can discover the hidden treasures in science that have been created for us to discover."

Luke Bower, BScAgric Animal Science Tutor and Class Representative in 2021, shared his experience of The Noble Chemist. "The workshops are very informative and help to clarify any confusion you may have. When I did my three-year senior certificate through England's Cambridge IGCSE to AS level qualifications, her practical approach to chemistry was one reason I excelled both in the practical component. For example, I can finish a basic titration with calculations in under 30 minutes. This is also why my theory averaged above 85% for the sections I covered with her. At a tertiary level, the workshop helped me to increase my understanding of the organic component especially," he concluded.

Micke plans to expand in 2022 to The Noble Scientist, where physics, biochemistry, geology, mathematics, and biology (botany, zoology, and medical sciences) modules will be tutored by various tutors on a secondary and tertiary level."

Interested students can subscribe to The Noble Chemist YouTube channel here. For more information, send an email to [email protected] 

Twitter handle: @ChemistNoble
Instagram: The.noblechemist
Facebook: @micke.noblechemist