UCT chapter honoured

The UCT chapter of the Golden Key International Honour Society - an organisation dedicated to academic achievement, community upliftment and social and intellectual exchange - was recently honoured at the international conference held in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Incoming chair Danielle Harcourt, outgoing chair Nicolene Ramsunder and chapter co-advisor Glen Anderson were there to take part.

Dressed in national costume at the awards ceremony, UCT's delegates were received into Gold Chapter Status (the highest international ranking) for Golden Key's performance over the 2004/5 period and invited to make the acceptance speech on behalf of all the chapters worldwide who had attained Gold Status - a remarkable achievement for a chapter that has been running at the university for only five years.

This can be attributed to the hard work and dedication of its members, particularly in their community service initiatives, a presentation of which garnered further awards at the conference.

The conference forged a nexus of interaction between young leaders and dedicated university students of various nations and Harcourt and Ramsunder enjoyed the opportunity to travel, experience different cultures, learn new skills and meet interesting people, many of them top academics from around the globe.

Recently, at the regional conference held in Durban in September, the UCT Chapter of Golden Key received further recognition by winning not only three regional titles - Best Community Service Project (for their involvement with SHAWCO's SO Live & Learn Project); Best Newsletters (for the colourful, informative communication they maintain with their members) and Best Fundraising Project (for the Corsa Lite Human Chutney competition run on Jammie Plaza, which raised R5 000 for Nazareth House) - but also scooped more awards than any other chapter in the country, making UCT the top performer of all eleven Golden Key chapters in South Africa.

Many Golden Key members attended the regional conference and are particularly encouraged to do so again next year, as the event is set to unfold in the winelands of Stellenbosch.