Resourceful LSRC Helps CPUT Fellow Student
CPUT students are able to extend themselves beyond their own self-interest, with the most recent evidence of this being a R10 000 cheque handed over to a deserving, indebted foreign student by the Wellington Local Student Representative Council (LSRC).
Christian Songwa, a second-year Agriculture student from the Democratic Republic of Congo, experienced financial relief as a result of the fundraising efforts of his fellow students on the Wellington Campus.
“The main criteria for the successful applicant was academic achievement and financial need,” says Jason Rousseau, acting LSRC Chairperson, adding, “Christian’s sterling academic records as well as the fact that he has established a student society put him head and shoulders above all the other applicants.”
Applications were open to students from the Applied Science and Business Faculties. Only foreign students could apply with a motivation letter, international identification, student fee account, housing account and their academic record. The money was raised through, amongst others, an inter-hostel singing as well as theatre competition.
The acknowledgement from his peers energised and motivated Christian as he was preparing for exams. “It couldn’t have come at a better time. This is the last year [of study] before my internship next year. I found my motivation levels lagging, but winning really woke me up to work harder,” he explains.
Christian is the president and founder of the Agriculture Students’ Society, which aims to “bring together all students interested in Agriculture to promote the exchange of knowledge, experience and mutual understanding”.