Sarepta Secondary School had the privilege recently of hosting a careers day arranged by two alumni of the school, Dr Ruben Cloete, a senior lecturer at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), and Dr Ashley Hendricks.
Both arranged the careers day together with school principal Yolanda Basson and life-orientation teacher Paul-Wayne Saunders. They decided there was a need for learners at the school to be exposed to previous learners who matriculated from there and are now professionals.
The aim of this initiative is to motivate and inspire learners to look beyond the school for their ongoing development and advancement.
“On the day we spoke to 185 Grade 12 learners and made an impression on them,” said Cloete, “especially in terms of how to go about making their final career choices. We encountered much uncertainty about career choices, and some had not even considered a career was possible for them. We pointed out that even though the two of us had grown up in difficult circumstances we are still able to succeed in life, having come from Sarepta.”
He said they made it clear learners should not have only one career option, but two or more as fall-back options. “Learners related to much that was said and hopefully will engage in further discussion with us. Perhaps we can arrange job shadowing.”
specialisation
The areas of specialisation covered by the speakers on the day included physiotherapy (Candice da Rocha), clinical psychology (Wilma Beukes), educational psychology (Dr Frederick Sylvester), civil engineering (Oliver Wentley), information technology (Mario Machelm), unconventional medicine (Hendricks), paediatric neurology (Prof Reaghan Solomons) and molecular and computational biology (Cloete). “Hopefully, in future more areas of specialisation will be covered that include people of the artisanal background, for skilled workers are a big necessity in society,” Cloete said.
Sylvester, from the educational psychology department at UWC, gave a comprehensive overview of the current bleak situation regarding communities of low economic status, but shed some light on how they can still contribute to society. “We really need to change the narrative to improve the chances of learners reaching university, college or technikons and becoming working professionals in society,” he said.
