Alice Elizabeth White was one of two Faculty of Education students who received an academic excellence award at the recently hosted annual Rector's Awards for Excellent Achievement.

“Receiving this award came as a huge shock. I had never been thought of as academically strong in school and that stigma had stuck with me coming into university. Receiving this award proves to me that I can do anything I set my mind on and that I have the power to change the world in my own way" White said.

She added that what makes this award extra special for her is that it comes from the Faculty of Education. According to White the education profession as well as faculty is undervalued and underappreciated in comparison to other professions and faculties, on campus. “This award shows me that I am seen and heard not only within my faculty but on a larger scale. Upon receiving the award, Prof Madiba, the dean of the Faculty of Education put it perfectly - he said that without us (Faculty of Education) there would be no other faculties or professions as it is teachers guiding and educating children to become the politicians, doctors, lawyers, and scientists."

White currently is a schoolteacher and this award also enabled her to show her class that they should never let “labels" define them and that they can achieve anything. She studied BEd Intermediate Phase and is currently doing her Honours in Curriculum Inquiry: Science Education. Her research project is on the transition of science teachers' pedagogical approaches to the twenty-first century.

White didn't know what to study, she only knew that she wanted to come to Stellenbosch. “I went to the psychometric testing at SU, where they told me that I should either go in health sciences, social work, or teaching. I was 50/50 on becoming either a midwife or a teacher!" After she was accepted for her BEd degree, she started getting more excited at the idea of being a teacher. Her first year was challenging as she did not enter a classroom yet but after she completed her first practical at a local school in her second year, she fell in love with teaching.

During high school, some of her teachers played a profound role in her identity to become a teacher. She only realised it when she became a teacher herself. “I guess that teaching naturally fit with me as you are surrounded by children for up to eight hours a day. Since they sometimes spend more time with you at school than at home, they start to feel like your children!"

A highlight during her undergraduate studies was teaching practical. “Practicals are like a medical student getting to perform their first surgery. You have prepped, practiced, and panicked the whole night before. You are going to put on the show of a lifetime and want to put smiles on the children's faces. The memories you make with these children will last a lifetime."

White currently started to teach and looks forward to being in the classroom fulltime. She also wants to do her master's and PhD in Education.

She thinks that South Africa needs teachers who are passionate about education. “Sadly, far too many people I know are leaving South Africa to teach aboard as the pay is better and the teaching conditions are too. If we have passionate teachers who are supported and given adequate resources, we will already see some significant change towards our goal of improving education within South Africa."

Her mother and grandmother inspire and motivate her. “They are both strong, independent, compassionate, and extremely talented women. They raised me to stand on my own two feet, to work hard, and do what I want to do in life – not what someone else wants me to do" White said.

Photo: Prof Koopman, Alice Elizabeth White and Prof Madiba (Dean of the Faculty of Education).

Photo by: Wil Punt (Peartree Photography)