National Champions Prove Environmental, Academic and Social Impact can be Made
National Champions Prove Environmental, Academic and Social Impact can be made by Primary and Secondary School Learners
29 July 2017. Garden Court South Beach, Durban. Over 270 people, including Provincial Winning teams from Primary and Secondary Schools in all 9 provinces and guests, attended the 8th Annual Youth Citizens Action Programme (Y-CAP) National Championship Showcase event.
The weekend was jam packed. Starting on Friday afternoon with a values-based movie from Heartlines that has been on circuit recently – “Beyond the River”, then a workshop on success, self-esteem, integrity and how to use the ladder of power by Y-CAP’s Life Coach, Ilana Bernstein.
On Saturday morning, Founder and CEO of Hirsch’s Homestores, Margaret Hirsch, gave a wonderfully inspirational talk on her life and how she started off with very little but now has achieved so much due to her hard work, dreams and dedication.
The 18 Provincial Winning Primary and Secondary Schools handed in their detailed portfolios of evidence showing the steps they followed from the Y-CAP Toolkit and proving that they made a positive impact on the problem they chose to solve.
The winning Primary School is from Vereeniging in Gauteng province, De Deur Primary. They created an educational song to assist the younger learners in hygiene around using of toilets as it was a problem and recorded great behaviour change as their sustainable impact.
The winning Secondary School is Ladysmith Secondary from Ladysmith in KwaZulu Natal for their environmental project on reusing, recycling and reducing with such creativity and passion that they could prove their impact on the problem. Since Y-CAP started 8 years ago, KwaZulu Natal has placed in the top three at Nationals, only winning in 2010 at the first championship and now in 2017 they did it again!
The Primary Category Second position winning team was from Madlala Full Service School from Uthukela district in KwaZulu Natal, Third position went to Didi Senior Primary School from Bizana district in Eastern Cape with their art room project to create career opportunities in the arts, and the Great Effort Award went to Nkomo Primary from Giyani in Limpopo.
The Secondary Category Second position went to Wrenchville High from Kuruman in Northern Cape for their “Drop All and Read” literacy campaign, Third place went to Potchefstroom Gimnasium from Dr Kenneth Kaunda district in North West Province and Great Effort was awarded to EPP Mhinga Secondary from Malamulele in Limpopo’s Vhembe district.
The second annual Change Agent for Sustainability Awards were also handed out. The Teacher Award Winner was Leonie Vitti from Postmasburg High in the Northern Cape. The Individual Award Winner was Lukhona Butshingi, who was previously from Isolomzi Senior Secondary in the Eastern Cape and is now at Rhodes University. The Support Team Member Award Winner was Simon Atkins who matriculated from MH Baloyi Secondary in Gauteng last year.
A formalised collaboration between Empowervate Trust and the Department of Basic Education, the Youth Citizens Action Programme (Y-CAP) has been providing social entrepreneurship and life skills through its Y-CAP Toolkit and workshops, as well as platforms for learners to showcase their impactful and sustainable projects since the first programme in 2010.
This year, a record six hundred schools registered to participate in Y-CAP, comprising more than 5000 primary and secondary school learners from and all nine provinces.
The Y-CAP National Championship showcase event is the highlight on the calendar for all involved, as it inspires, motivates and acknowledges the future leaders.
The programme’s major sponsors through Empowervate Trust are Deutsche Bank South Africa Foundation, DSV Mounties and ACSA, with UNISA, Airlink and Europcar providing major in-kind donations.
Together, we are encouraging the youth to be proactive – being the change they want to see. Youth: Empowered.
For more information:
Empowervate Trust:
Amanda Blankfield-Koseff
amanda@empowervate.org
0790808474
