By Ontiretse Motingwa

For North-West University (NWU) alumnus, Oreneile Mosupyoe, variety is the spice of life.

Oreneile studied sports science but swopped the sports field for the stage when he got into pageantry. He has since won several titles, with the most recent being Mr Tshwane Regions Philanthropist 2022.

Born and bred in Garankuwa, Pretoria, he considers himself an optimist and an all-rounder.

“I have always been a performer and I have participated in drama, dance and poetry from pre-school to varsity.

Khululwa Nosipho Shibane, North-West University (NWU) alumnus and an educator at Christinah School for the Blind and Partially Sighted, came second in the category Excellence in Special Needs Teaching in the North West provincial segment of the National Teaching Awards that took place on 7 October 2022.

This was not her first accolade. Khululwa also represented the Christiana School in 2020 in the same category at that year’s National Teaching Awards.

By Ontiretse Motingwa

Her hard work and perseverance have paid off – Refilwe Tsatsimpe, North-West University (NWU) alumnus and lecturer in the Faculty of Law on the Mahikeng Campus since 2019, was recently admitted to the high court.

Refilwe, who is from Itsoseng, a town near Mahikeng, says she wanted to pursue a career in law ever since she was a young girl, but unfortunately encountered several obstacles along the way.

On the 19th and 20th of September 2022, students from different faculties in the North-West University participated in the 1st Annual inter-faculty spelling bee competition.

The purpose of this event was to promote the different languages that are officially recognised in the NWU as well as to also ensure that the NWU brand also partakes in the language awareness, and to bring a chance to ensure that different faculties of the university are in one type of a competition that seeks to bring a sense of unity among the faculty and their student coordinators.

The better the pedigree of certain parrots kept as pets, the more popular and expensive they are in the marketplace. As a result, buyers and sellers alike have an interest in knowing the parentage of the birds concerned, and this is especially the case with lovebirds, says Prof Rencia van der Sluis, senior lecturer in the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

The Spelling Checkers for South African Languages, a spelling and hyphenation checker tool for ten of South Africa’s official languages, excluding English, is now available to download for free from the website of the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR).

By Ontiretse Motingwa and Nolwazi Xulu

North-West University (NWU) Prof Choja Oduaran of the School of Psychosocial Health presented her inaugural lecture on the evening of 7 October 2022.

The lecture, attended by academics, family members, friends and students, explored thoughts and behaviours for the resolution of life balances in an unsettled world.

By Phenyo Mokgothu and Lerato Molokele

North-West University (NWU) academic in the School of Communication, Ofentse Ngake, was recently invited by Daily Thetha – a daily live television talk show on SABC1 – to share some of his research findings.

Ofentse’s master’s study focused on the Daily Theta show and specifically on the launch of its new season.

His study is titled “The role of TV talk shows in facilitating youth engagements: A case study of Daily Theta”.

By Ontiretse Motingwa

World Teachers’ Day is celebrated annually on 5 October in recognition of and to show appreciation for the critical role teachers play in contributing to education and development across the globe.

This year’s theme is “The transformation of education begins with teachers”.

“This year’s theme reminds me of the Bible verse 1 Timothy 5:8 – in short – charity begins at home,” says Ellen Nkwe, North-West University (NWU) Setswana lecturer.