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25 May 2018 Photo Supplied
Kovsies back Margo as Miss SA Top-12 finalist
#MargoForMissSA

Co-director of the non-profit organisation A&M Foundation, hair influencer at Shea Moisture South Africa, part-time teacher and mentor, Margo Fargo said: “I come from a community and background that doesn’t necessarily have all the resources and opportunities for me to be in this position, but that gives me hope, and I have faith that it will encourage someone to believe that it is possible to achieve what you set your mind to, and work for it despite the circumstances.”

Kovsie’s very own Margo Fargo strikes the iron while it’s hot, as she competes in the Miss South Africa Beauty Pageant as a top-12 finalist.

UFS alumni have developed a knack for achieving admirable accomplishments, and Fargo is standing by to take the flight to new heights.

When asked what makes her stand out, the BSc Consumer Sciences honours graduate replied, “My story; no two contestants are the same physically and intellectually, we are all so different and the fact that I am myself sets me apart.”

Fargo believes that Miss South Africa needs to be a leader in countless ways, having a formidable but teachable spirit to continually grow through encounters and experiences. She feels that the candidate should be unapologetic for who she is and be strong-willed, as she represents many people as well as an entire nation. Fargo strongly believes that the Miss South Africa Beauty Pageant is an important institute in the country, as it aids women with characteristic traits and mechanisms that enable them to make a visible and worthy difference in their communities.

“I come from a community and background
that doesn’t necessarily have all the
resources and opportunities for me
to be in this position, but that gives
me hope, and I have faith that
it will motivate someone else
to believe that it is possible
to achieve what, you set
your mind to, and work for it
despite the circumstances.”
—Margo Fargo

The 25-year-old from Heidedal, Bloemfontein, explained that breaking into the pageant industry made her feel like a fish out of water. Fargo found great difficulty throughout the journey to this point in her life; however, she stressed that the rejection she was subjected to was brutal but very much needed, as it has given her a thick skin. She also emphasised the honour it was to be associated with an organisation of the calibre of the Miss South Africa Beauty Pageant.

Fargo dreams of herself as a well-established brand, with her own businesses, doing compelling work that creates sustainable jobs in industries including wellness, entertainment, and working with people. She concluded by saying, “We need each other, for we are stronger together.” The university is proud to count Fargo among its alumni, and the Kovsie community wishes her all the best in this adventure.

News Archive

Harvard couple to present lectures on Biostatistics and Mathematics at the UFS
2015-12-07


Professor Donald Rubin

Prof Donald Rubin (John L. Loeb Professor of Statistics at Harvard University) and Elizabeth Zell (MStat - mathematical statistician in the Division of Bacterial Diseases) will visit the University of the Free State (UFS) where they will present lectures on their respective work.

Over his prestigious academic career, Prof Don Rubin’s 400 publications and 13 books have earned him around 180 000 citations at an h-index of 113. He is one of the most cited statisticians/mathematicians/economists/psychologists in the world over the last 10 -15 years. He has supervised 35 PhD candidates as sole-supervisor, 17 more as co-supervisor, with a further eight in the pipeline.

Prof Rubin who will meet with UFS academics in the Department of Mathematics and Actuarial Sciences will also deliver a lecture: Rerandomisation to improve covariate balance in experiments.

Randomised experiments are the “gold standard” for estimating causal effects, yet in practice, chance imbalances often exist in covariate distributions between treatment groups. If covariate data are available before units are exposed to treatments, these chance imbalances can be mitigated by first checking covariate balance before the physical experiment takes place. Provided a precise definition of imbalance has been specified in advance, unbalanced randomisations can be discarded, followed by a rerandomisation. This process can continue until a randomisation yielding balance according to the definition is achieved. By improving covariate balance, rerandomisation provides more precise and trustworthy estimates of treatment effects.

Prof Rubin received an honorary professorship from the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS.


Elizabeth Zell

The lecture will take place on:
Date: Tuesday 8 December 2015
Time: 16:00
Venue: Albert Wessels Auditorium, Bloemfontein Campus

Zell earned her Master’s degree in Statistics at North Carolina State University, and for more than two decades, was an active bio-statistical researcher in various offices of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Since 2013, she has been the Principal Statistician and President of Stat-Epi Associates, Inc. Her 150+ publications have earned her 14 500 citations at an h-index of over 50. She is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, and, in 2010, she received the Statistics Section Government Award for outstanding contributions to statistics and public health by the American Public Health Association. During her career at the CDC, she earned more than 20 CDC research awards and honours.

She will deliver two lectures at the UFS. The first is entitled A Potential Outcomes Approach to Documenting the Public Health Impact of the Introduction of PCV13 for the Prevention of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease. The topic of her second lecture is: Assessing the Effectiveness of Intrapartum Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Prevention of Early-Onset Group B Streptococcus Disease through Propensity Score Design

Elizabeth’s lectures will take place on:
Date: Wednesday 9 December 2015
Time: 10:45 and 13:00
Venue: West Block 111, Bloemfontein Campus

For more information, please contact Dr Michael von Maltitz at VMaltitzMJ@ufs.ac.za.

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