The faculty administrators of Informatics and Design (FID) were treated to a Wellness Day arranged by final year students at the Great Western Hotel.
The workshop to benefit staff is a project of the part-time BTech students of the PR Management course and counts 30% towards their final year mark. The main attraction at the event was the motivational speaker Denzel Pedro Smit, who encouraged his mostly female audience with tips to develop resilience when faced with difficult situations.
Other activities included massages and interactive games, after which participants were treated to a sumptuous lunch.
Thandiswa Madadsana, an assistant faculty officer, was completely surprised by the whole experience. “I did not expect all of this. Never thought it would such a big thing. I was prepared to come and eat and mingle, but this has been so much more. The guest speaker was amazing – what he said made sense to me. I feel really appreciated and he was brilliant. The Dean [Prof Johannes Cronje] also came to tell us how he feels about us,” she said.
Siobhan Williams, project manager of the event, says though there were challenges putting the workshop together, it was all worth it to see the appreciation on the faces of the staff members.
“It was not easy to organise. We’re all working people, but modern technology helped us to communicate regularly and stay in touch with one another,” she explained. The students were organised into different teams. “There was the sponsorship, media, writing and operations teams to name some. We created Whatsapp groups and kept in touch with each other like,” added Willaims.
The members of the sponsorship team had their work cut out for them because the class had next to no budget. Not only did service providers have to sponsor their services, but items for the goodie bags also had to be sourced.
“This year’s workshop was a resounding success. The students really out did themselves and I’m sure our staff members were grateful for the opportunity to just put their feet up and relax even if it was just for a morning,” said Deidre Porthen, Senior Lecturer and Programme Head in the Media Department.
