A weekend cleaning beaches and rooting out alien plants went down well with a group of first-year Nature Conservation and Oceanography students.
To give students a heads-up on their career choice, lecturers in the Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Management organized a weekend trip to the Helderberg Marine Protected Area.
Head of Department Dr Joseph Kiokosays the students rolled up their sleeves and completed a number of tasks related to their career choice.
“The weekend’s activities exposed them to the world of work. It gave them an idea of some of the things they can expect during their course,” he says.
Students cleaned the beach at the Helderberg Marine Protected Area near Strand, collected water and marine life samples and spent a day rooting out invasive plants at the Cape Nature Reserve. They also interacted with third-year nature conservation and oceanography students who are currently completing their work-integrated learning programmes at the various sites visited.
RESPONSIBILITY: Students collected large amounts of trash during their beach clean-up.
Student Dillion Quickfall says he left the excursion better informed on his career choice and after interacting with nature conservation practitioners and senior students, the 18-year-old is positive he made the right career choice. His classmate Thangiswa Kafile also gave the weekend a thumbs-up.
“I am passionate about nature and it was so interesting to learn about the different plants,” he says. Lecturer Conrad Sparks said the trip showed students the impact humans have on the environment and the role they will one-day play in conserving it.
The department plans to make this trip a permanent feature on their year calendar.
By Candes Keating
Written by CPUT News
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