'A true epitome of a good and inspiring lecturer' and 'he always brings excitement to the class and shows a lot of determination and passion for his subject.' These were just some of the comments of the students who voted Mr Nick de Beer, a lecturer in Chemistry as the Best First-year Lecturer in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (NAS) on 1 December 2017.

'He challenges students intellectually during his classes and gives a lot of examples to independently do and he goes through them in the next class,' was another student's observation on Mr De Beer's abilities as a first-year lecturer.

This Award was initiated by the Faculty's student house, NATHouse, to recognise the extra effort that the first-year lecturers put into their teaching and learning activities. According to Dr Quenton Kritzinger, guardian of NATHouse, 'their efforts are really appreciated by the students and this Award serves as an encouragement for the lecturers.'

A word of thanks was also extended to the Executive Committee members of NATHouse for their efforts with the arrangements (among others marketing, acquiring the nominations, the voting process) related to the Award.

The other nominees for the Award were: Dr Kershney Naidoo (Genetics), Dr Rory Biggs (Mathematics and Applied Mathematics), Dr Damilola Momodu (Physics), Dr Nina Strydom (Statistics), Dr Janet van Niekerk (Statistics), Mr Johan Janse van Rensburg (Physics) and Dr Jan Harm van der Walt (Mathematics and Applied Mathematics).