Academic citizenship at work on the Mamelodi Campus

Posted on September 12, 2019

In an effort to raise awareness and improve participation in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, the Mamelodi Business Clinic (MBC) collaborated with MasterCard to host an event at the UP Mamelodi Campus on 30 August 2019.

Event organisers of the Mamelodi planting day

“This year the MBC decided to take a different approach with student projects. We combined our planting day, which contributes to food security, with our yearly early childhood development (ECD) programme so as to improve the impact of our engagement,” said Thato Mokoena, Lecturer in the Department of Business Management.
 
Students planting in the vegetable garden
 
Prof Alex Antonites, Head of the Department of Business Management, further explained that this yearly engagement with the community is interdisciplinary in nature, as it includes efforts from many subject fields focusing on improving engagement with the direct social community. Participants included community members, students and staff members, with the total number of beneficiaries being 80 children aged four to six from surrounding ECD centres in Mamelodi.

Children from the ECDs had a fun-filled day
 
The first-year Business Management students were given an opportunity to showcase what they have learned about the SDGs and teach some basic skills in the most elementary manner to the young children. This was done through child-friendly and educational entertainment, which taught the children where food comes from. The little ones were also given an opportunity to expand their gardening skills by planting a seed to take home.

A student helps a child to plant a seed
 
The staff involved in the event reported that the most noticeable impact of the event was on the first-year students. In their attempt to break down the concepts into digestible pieces for the young ones, as well as the application thereof, they were able to completely integrate what they have learned into their own lives. This equips them with an active moral and ethical compass as they pursue careers in the business world.

Business Management staff with Prof Nthabiseng Ogude, Dean of the Mamelodi Campus (standing, third from left)
 
Esteemed guests included councillors Cindy Billson from Ward 69 and Marika Kruger (Agriculture and Environment), who expressed their excitement about the nature of the engagement, highlighting the need to raise awareness about sustainability and the Earth’s finite resources from an early age.
- Author Department of Business Management

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