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2020 Kovsie ACT programme rounds off on an electrifying note!

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

The first female heart surgeon in South Africa is a Kovsie

2014-12-15

Video: Dr Susan Vosloo

Dr Susan Vosloo is South Africa’s first female heart surgeon. She graduated from the University of the Free State (UFS) in 1980.

“Being a Kovsie student brings back great memories. I received great medical training at the UFS and have fond memories of my time at the university,” she says.

Dr Vosloo completed her internship in Pretoria and spent the following year in Critical Care Medicine at Universitas Hospital, Bloemfontein, before starting her surgical training in Johannesburg.

She is currently in independent private practice at the Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital in Cape Town, having also worked from 1998 – 2012 at the Vincent Pallotti Hospital in the same city.

Dr Vosloo maintains close ties with our university and has quite a number of additional roles to that of surgeon:

• member of the Council of the UFS;
• UFS Council Representative in the Senate;
• member of the Standing Advisory Committee of the School of Medicine, UFS;
• Kovsie Alumnus of the Year (1989);
• member of the Provincial Department of Health;
• Africa representative for the Paediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society; and
• founding member of the World Society for Paediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery.

“I have always been proud of the medical training I received at Kovsies. I have worked and visited many institutions across the world and never felt less qualified. In fact, all the places I have worked and went to had high regard for the training I received and also accepted me in that way.

“I think the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the UFS does some ground-breaking research that the university can truly be proud of,” Dr Vosloo says.

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