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25 August 2020 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Supplied
Nicole Morris champions leadership development in her role as Director: Student Affairs.
She describes herself as passionate about leadership development in Africa and constantly seeking new ways of developing and nurturing talent. Her current role as Secretary-General of the National Association of Student Development (NASDEV) bears testimony to this. Closer to home, she is the Director: Student Affairs, having joined the Qwaqwa Campus just as COVID-19 was about to hit South Africa and the entire globe. During August, she hosted, among other things, a Women’s Month Webinar Series that focused on the theme of Intersectionality Between Politics, Feminism and Social Justice, and featured Pilani Bubu, South African Music Awards Winner of Best African Adult Contemporary Album in 2020. 

She was previously the Manager: Development and Leadership Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand. 
Meet Nicole Morris.

Please tell us about yourself: Who you are and what you do.

My name is Nicole Morris – a daughter, friend, traveller, seeker of knowledge, and trailblazer.

Is there a woman who inspires you and who you would like to celebrate this Women’s Month, and why?

My mother – a phenomenal beauty who did not allow any challenge to repress her infectious laughter and her search for beauty and progress through any and all entrepreneurial ventures.

What are some of the challenges you have faced in your life that have made you a better woman?

Fear! The fear of failure, the fear of succeeding! Fear, fear, fear! And then realising that fear is nothing, but False Evidence Appearing Real! Now, having learnt to feel the fear and doing my thing, has anyway liberated me. 

What advice would you give to the 15-year-old you?

It is OK to not fit in, it is OK to ask questions, and it is definitely OK to want more.  What is important, is to know that you are always living your truth.

What would you say makes you a champion woman [of the UFS]?

An irrepressible ability and desire to find solutions to challenges big and small, and smiling and laughing throughout the journey.  

Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us; some people and experiences ignite them, and some dampen them. Each of us has to discover what will set off those explosions in order to live; the combustion that occurs when one of them is ignited is what nourishes the soul. That fire, in short, is its [the soul's] food.

 


News Archive

Johann swims his way to Olympics
2016-05-18


Johann van Heerden from the University of the Free State has qualified for the Paralympic Games in the swimming pool, and is now waiting to hear if he will be included in the South African team. Photo: Nadya van Heerden.

In the past couple of months, Johann van Heerden has been swimming his way to the Paralympic Games, and is still preparing as if he will be going to Rio de Janeiro.

The Kovsie swimmer, who will know whether he has been included in the Paralympic team in July 2016, feels his training is progressing well. The Olympics will be held in Brazil from 7 to 18 September 2016. If all goes well, this could be the first of several Olympics for the 20-year-old second-year Education student from the University of the Free State (UFS).

Dream year for Education student

Van Heerden (cerebral palsy), whose hero is the former Paralympic superstar Natalie du Toit, has had huge successes in the run-up to the 2016 Olympics. Among others, he was named the best senior swimmer at the Nedbank National Championships for the Physically Disabled in Bloemfontein in March 2016. At the South African Senior Championships in Durban in April 2016, he qualified for the Olympics in the 100 m breast-stroke with an A-qualifying time, and in the 50 m and 100 m freestyle with B-qualifying times.

Only three male swimmers to Olympics

However, he has to wait until the announcement of the South African Paralympic team, since only three male and three female swimmers will be selected. He will not be competing in another major event before the Olympics. “My short-term goal is to compete in this year’s Games, and, in the long term, I would like to reach even greater heights at the 2020 Games,” he said. Du Toit is an inspiration to him because “she was hard-working, and she had a lot of drive”.

Other students from CUADS also excel

At the above-mentioned National Championships, Van Heerden won a total of five gold medals (200 m medley, 100 m breaststroke, 50 m freestyle, 50 m breaststroke, and 200 m breaststroke) and one silver medal (100 m freestyle). Other students from the Center for Universal Access and Disability Support at the UFS also excelled.

Dineo Mokhosoa (cerebral palsy) won three gold medals (long jump, shot-put, and discus), while the athlete Louzanne Coetzee (blind) shattered the world record in the 5 000 m, as well as the Africa record in the 1 500 m. Juanré Jenkinson (cerebral palsy) won two silver medals (discus and shot-put) while Danie Breitenbach (blind) won two gold medals (800 m and 1500 m).

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