Kevin Tait, who has been the manager of the Ruth First Jeppe Memorial Scholarship programme since it was founded in 2010, will finally be retiring at the end of March.
Robyn Hill, the school’s social worker (and a Jeppe Old Girl), who has been directly involved since the inception of our mentorship programme, has been appointed by the school as the new manager. Robyn was previously the practice manager at the Epworth Children’s Village and has excellent experience of running social enterprises.
Robyn is excited about her new role. Her vision for the programme is to build on the wonderful foundation that has been established in the last twelve years. The Ruth First Jeppe Memorial Trust has always been proactive in assessing and working towards meeting the holistic needs of our Ruthies and it is this continual evaluation and growth that has seen the programme be the success that it is. Robyn wants to continue in this vein to enhance the supportive environment for our scholarship recipients. Our goal remains to facilitate our Ruthies’ development, wellbeing and the achievement of their potential.
Looking back on the success of the programme, Kevin said that it has been one of the highlights of his educational career and had far exceeded his expectations. When it commenced with four scholarship recipients in Grade 8 in 2011, he never dreamt that it would grow to the number currently involved – there are 66 recipients in the school this year, there have now been 8 matric groups and there are 71 Ruthies who have matriculated and are at various stages of tertiary studies or employment. It is simply mindboggling if one thinks of the long-term positive impact of the programme on all the families involved. Of course, all this would not have been possible without the incredible support of so many donors and friends.
At the same time, we are saying farewell and a heartfelt thanks to Jackie Standish-White who has also retired after volunteering for 9 years of invaluable involvement with the general administration, especially of the mentorship programme and has taken our communications such as this newsletter and our social media presence to new heights. She has also been the ‘mother’ figure to all the girls and continues to keep in touch with many of our alumnae.
We are also delighted to announce that Lauren Dicks, who is also a Jeppe Old Girl and has extensive experience of running similar programmes at some leading independent schools and UJ has taken over from Jackie and Catherine Batchelder and joined the staff as our new scholarship’s administrator.
We will update you in more detail on our matric results in our next newsletter but are thrilled that the top two Jeppe Girls’ results were both Ruthies - Lucky Geluk with 8 distinctions and Maroushkha Maghoma with 7. The photograph above of the “new and the old” is :
Top image from L-R : Robyn Hill, Jackie Standish-White and Kevin Tait
Bottom image from L-R : Robyn Hill and Lauren Dicks
Thank you for your ongoing support. Robyn Hill Manager: Ruth First Jeppe Memorial Trust ruthfirstjeppetrust@jeppegirls.co.za
Should you wish to make a donation, payment is accepted by SnapScan (see below) , GivenGain (use the link https://www.givengain.com/widget/en/campaign/23086/) or eft to Absa, Eastgate, Branch code 632005, Account number 4076706321.
Many thanks.
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