West Coast TVET College, one of the 8 Technical Vocational Education and Training Colleges in the Western and Northern Cape Region, celebrated their students’ academic success virtually in July 2021 for the class of 2019 and 2020 respectfully.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the class of 2019 could not have had their graduation. The various alert levels that was in place also did not allow for any gatherings and this indeed had an effect on the planning and execution of the event.
This then along with some great Information Communication Technology advancements of the college, thrusted the planning for this year to be a virtual celebration of academic achievements for 2019 as well as the 2020 groups.
“The developments such as the increase in the areas fiber connectivity along with the upgrade of the internet speed allowed the college to bring in a live streaming production team to stream the event to the West Coast College Facebook Page, YouTube Channel and West Coast College website,” says Rhazia Hamza, Deputy Principal, Innovation and Development.
Students from any part of the country could link up with the college through these mentioned platforms and enjoy their moment together with loved ones.
The college was honoured to have its past Marketing Manager, now Master’s Degree Achiever: Morne Meyer, giving the keynote address from this now home in America.
Reverend Meyer is also a product of the TVET College sector and therefore it was indeed fitting to include him in the history making and ground breaking event. He spoke to the graduation groups of 2021 and reminded that they have a purpose and that they should NEVER GIVE UP.
Thursday, 29 July saw the 2019 class digitally walking on the screen while 30 July was the opportunity for our 2020 group. A total of 1000 students were celebrated on these nights.
“We wanted to make the evening more real, the most authentic and life-like as we possibly could in these times of covid-19 alert levels and therefore we opted for the virtual event rather than the recorded event that lead to more interaction and more comments by those who were watching the event live on their screens,” added Hamza.
This year again also saw sets of top achievers for both years but this was then broken down to Top Achiever for Business Studies, Top Achiever Utility Studies and Top Achiever Engineering Studies. These along with the Principal’s and Chairperson’s Award was as always the highlight and saw our sponsors: Absa Bank, Vodacom and Cape Book Supplies sponsoring monetary prizes, gift hampers, devices and laptops for these awards.

The top achievers for class of 2019 were:

Carin Perle Arendse from Atlantis Campus – Top Business Studies Student for 2019 with 13 distinctions over her 3 years of study at the college.
Lindisipho Ntsompo from Malmesbury Campus – Top Utility Studies student for 2019 with 10 distinctions over the past 3 years of study
Tsekiso Kheswa from Citrusdal Campus – Top Engineering Studies Student for 2019 with 5 distinctions over the past 3 years of study
The Principal’s Award for 2019 went to: Carin Perle Arendse with an average of 81.33% from Atlantis Campus
The Chairperson’s Award for 2019 went to: Carlin Bronwyn Brandt with an average of 85.76% from the Vredenburg Campus
The top achievers for class of 2020 were:
Zanele Matebese from Vredendal Campus – Top Business Studies Student for 2020 with 11 distinctions over her 3 years of study at the college.
Lulutho Maseme from Vredendal Campus – Top Utility Studies student for 2020 with 12 distinctions over the past 3 years of study
Sinethemba July from Atlantis Campus – Top Engineering Studies Student for 2020 with 4 distinctions over the past 3 years of study
The Principal’s Award for 2020 went to: Zanele Matebese with an average of 81.14% from the Vredendal Campus.
The Chairperson’s Award for 2020 went to: Rozanne Gaylee Davids with an average of 76.92% from the Malmesbury Campus.
“We would like to congratulate all our students and although we could not celebrate together under one roof, we are glad that we could have celebrated your achievements and your commitment even in these trying times,” says Rhazia Hamza.