Graduation '“ Days Five and Six

UCT wrapped up its December 2011 graduations with four ceremonies over Friday and Saturday, 15 and 16 December.

Award winning: Prof Richard van der Ross (far right) received the President of Convocation Medal from UCT.	Family ties: Graduate Giselle Vicatos (second from left) celebrated her special moment with mother Evelyn, father George and brother Alexios

It was a bumper week for awards and accolades, and a few more were made over these final ceremonies. Among these, Professor Ed Rybicki and Professor Vanessa Watson were presented with their UCT fellowship awards. (See Monday Paper article.) Dr Gregory Smith received his Distinguished Teacher Award. (See Monday Paper article on the 2011 Distinguished Teacher Awards.) Associate Professor Dee Smythe accepted the university's Social Responsiveness Award on behalf of the Rural Women's Action Research Project. (See Monday Paper article.) And pioneering educator Professor Richard van der Ross returned to his alma mater to collect a President of Convocation Medal. (See Monday Paper article.)

Making a splash: Michael Foster found a good way to keep cool at graduation. (Picture by Neil Snyders.)

Amid the pomp and the ceremony, there were other celebrations. UCT academics and husband and wife Dr George Vicatos and Evelyn Vicatos, both of the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment, replayed a scene that's become a hallmark of UCT graduations when they hooded their daughter, Giselle, who picked up her BSc degree on Friday. (Brother Alexios, who has just finished the first year of his science degree, joined the rest of the family for the celebrations.)

And, as is typical of the occasion, a few always push the envelope when it comes to marking the moment. But few pushed further than three-year-old Michael Foster, at UCT with his mother, Nicola Foster, who received her Master of Public Health in health economics on Saturday, 17 December.

The day proved particularly sweltering, so Michael found a way to cool down. He went for a dunk in the water feature - aka Bruce Arnott's The Oracle - on Jammie Plaza.

In Michael's defence, a write-up for the piece says that the work's disc shape can suggest a children's game.