Campus society Uplifted Life aims to inspire an attitude change in students to make them better members of the Wits community.
For first-year students, coming to university can be a very challenging experience. There is a lot to adjust to, a lot to learn and without some kind of guidance, it can be a very lonely place.
This is why Uplifted Life started their organisation. A society at Wits, Uplifted Life aims to create a community of like-minded students that want to be better people at Wits.
“We believe that if someone is inspired, they can do anything,” the society’s chairperson Mpho Ramokgopa said. It is this belief that has led to them starting up their own tutorial systems that aim to help out first-year learners. They also have study marathons, where first years can meet people from their own faculties and they can work together on course work.
The society is divided into five tiers covering things from business and community to art and music. According to Ramokgopa, these tiers are important to the development of each of their society’s members, as they contribute in creating individuals that are more involved in their communities. In the words of the society, they are “awakened to responsibility”.
Second-year student Nomtandazo Kasibe, who took economics tutorials from the society in her first year, explains that not only did she receive further assistance in her academic work, she also gained a community of friends from the society.
“When we went to the tuts, we were like 30 in a class, we had that intimacy, we got to know people better and through that we’d make friends,” Kasibe said.
The society has tutorials for first year across all faculties and they also do community outreaches that target high school students to offer assistance with academics. “We are not only academic, we have art nights, sports days etc … So after all the studying is done, we can get together and be social,” says Mbalenhle Mhlongo, the society’s public relations officer.
The society is planning to put up a production at the theatre later this year.
Uplifted Life is one of the many examples of student societies at Wits that make it cool to take responsibility for their lives. While tutorial services are provided by the university, the society decided to be pro-active and set up their own extra learning spaces.
Proving that if all Witsies were to do their bit, the university space would become slightly more welcoming.
