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04 February 2020 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Charl Devenish
Kovsie Eco vehicle parade
A highlight for first-year and senior students is the ACT eco-vehicle building and parade through the streets of Bloemfontein.
Sunny skies, cheerful faces, and an overall great atmosphere surfed the University of the Free State (UFS) Bloemfontein Campus on Saturday, 1 February 2020 for the final series of events in the Kovsie ACT 2020 line-up.

The eco-vehicle parade kick-started the activities for the day and saw various student teams displaying their personalised pit-stop ‘sculptures’ along the streets of Bloemfontein.  UFS residence teams Sonverlief (Houses Sonnedou, Veritas, Madelief); Soetmarmentum (Houses Soetdoring, Marjolein, Armentum); and Beykasium (Houses Beyers Naudé, Akasia, Imperium) came in first, second, and third respectively, obtaining the highest scores out of nine teams for their pit-stop sculpture constructions. 
 
Following the parade, there were a number of fun but competitive eco-vehicle races between the teams. This included the Drag Race, Obstacle Course Race, Formula E Race, Endurance Race, and the Slalom Course Race that took place on the Mokete Square. 

In the evening, students were serenaded by artists such as Early B and Spoegwolf. They danced to performances from the latest Amapiano music sensation, Kabza de Small, and legendary deep-house music duo, Black Motion, at the Rag Farm. 

Assistant Director of UFS Student Life and Director of the Kovsie ACT office, Karen Scheepers, earlier urged students to get more involved in student-life programmes such as Kovsie ACT, in order to equip themselves with a variety of skills and a fulfilling university experience.

A number of senior and first-year students who were part of the action on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus this past Saturday, can attest to Scheepers’ advice.
“I’ve been looking forward to starting university for the longest time, and I am glad that I ended up at the UFS. I don’t feel alone, I feel like I can actually do this,” said first-year Psychology student, Thulisa Shezi.

“University isn’t as bad as everyone thinks it is, it’s just a matter of staying motivated, doing your work, and surrounding yourself with the right people in the process.” – Fourth-year Business Management student, Earl van der Westhuisen.

News Archive

Department of Chemistry receives accolades at international conferences
2014-11-11

 

From the left are: Prof Andreas Roodt, Renier Koen, Dr Marija Zbacnik and Prof Deon Visser.
Photo: Supplied

Staff members in the Department of Chemistry at the University of the Free State (UFS) excelled at recent international conferences. Prof Andreas Roodt, Head of the Department of Chemistry, was honoured at the Pan African Meeting of the International Year of Crystallography IYCr2014. This event was hosted on our Bloemfontein Campus and delegates from 22 countries delivered their papers at the congress.

Prof Roodt received a medal from the President of the Moroccan Crystallographic Association, Prof Abdelmalek Thalal, for 'Building Science in Africa through Crystallography as President of the European Crystallographic Association'. Prof Deon Visser gave a keynote lecture at this meeting, while Dr Marija Zbacnik, post-doctoral fellow in Chemistry, received a prize for the best poster presentation.

Similarly, Chemistry PhD student, Renier Koen, received the prize as best student speaker at the Light Metals AMI (Advanced Metal Initiative) conference held at Kwa Maritane in Pilanesberg. Plenary speakers included delegates from the United Kingdom, the United States, India, China and South Africa.

Profs Roodt and Visser received a special scroll for having produced the best student speakers at the AMI series of conferences for the past three years in a row. The previous best student lectures were presented by Maryke Steyn (2012) and Tinus Viljoen (2013).

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