A significant part of being a student is the need for a balance between academics and social life. This balance was, evidently, disrupted at the height of covid-19, particularly, during the hard lockdown period. A need, therefore, arises for students to be more creative in how they express themselves in response to the changes necessitated by covid-19.
What better way to cater for them than the provision of a platform through which they can showcase their talents?
It is in this context that, support for the SMU Explosive Talent Project is the SRCs way of showing students that the SMU SRC 2021/22 is “a listening and caring SRC”. This is a project that seeks to improve and better the lives of the students. Against this background, the SRC donated an amount of R250 000 to support the project; thus, ensuring that it is managed without facing financial constraints. This was done under the SRC theme: 2022 the year of revitalizing student life.
It is important to note that SMU Explosive Talent is one of the biggest student events which contributes to students’ life at the university. This is a demonstration that whilst academics are important, there is a need to strike a balance with some fun activities. This, also, remains the biggest contribution that the SRC has ever made towards this event.
“It remains a commitment of the SRC to revive student activities on campus in post-covid 19 hard lockdown period. SMU Explosive Talent is, similar to the Hands of Compassion, a project that the SRC has identified as a contribution towards improving the students’ social and academic wellbeing. We donated this money in order to ensure that the SMU Explosive Talent manages its activities without facing financial constraints. As the SRC, we lead students at a time that requires us to be more creative and innovative to combat all forms of depression experienced by the students during the hard lockdown period,” explains SRC Secretary-General, Daniel Masekwameng.
The SRC opted to support this project given that it presents a perfect alignment with the theme adopted at the beginning of the year. In this regard, the SRC President Philani Mdakane, further indicated that: “We would like to encourage all students, especially, first-year students to participate in this project. This is only the beginning of many initiatives that the SRC is going to initiate to revitalise student life,”
In response, Project Manager of SMU Explosive Talent, Sipho Mapfumari, said that “SMU’s Explosive Talent project is back to show you the greatest talent at SMU. We would like to thank the 2021/2022 SMU SRC for this generous donation to help us bring back this student event. This is the biggest contribution that we have ever received from an SRC. It is encouraging to see an SRC that is invested in servicing students. Words cannot begin to express how appreciative we are of this contribution. We are back and we will give the SMU community the best show we possibly can. We promise to give a full account of every cent that we have received. Thank you once again to the SRC”, he concluded.
