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<h1 class="entry-title">UKZN student receives GradStar Top 100 award</h1>
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GradStar is a mentorship programme that annually recognises South
Africa’s top students, who display leadership qualities and readiness
for the workplace. </div>
1 day ago
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Sana Jeewa received an award at an official ceremony held for the top
GradStar students, at the Indaba Hotel in Johannesburg, recently.
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<p>University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) PhD Linguistics student,
Sana Jeewa, said she feels confident about her future after making it as
a GradStar Top 100 student for 2018.</p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color:rgb(255,102,0)">GradStar is a mentorship
programme that annually recognises South Africa’s top students, who
display leadership qualities and readiness for the workplace. </span></p></blockquote>
<p>Jeewa underwent a rigorous judging process before she was selected over thousands of hopefuls around the country.</p>
<p>Jeewa said she believes the recognition will give her an edge over her peers.</p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color:rgb(255,102,0)"> “I enjoyed the programme,
interacted with students from many different universities, and also
connected with potential employers,” she said.</span></p></blockquote>
<p>Each top student was connected with a successful business mentor, to further prepare them for the workplace.</p>
<p>Jeewa, who was the only linguistics scholar in the programme, is
passionate about language development in SA, saying that not all eleven
official languages are receiving the consideration deserved.</p>
<p>ALSO READ: <span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)"><a class="gmail-anchor_post" style="color:rgb(255,0,0)" href="https://risingsunoverport.co.za/59609/ukzns-oldest-graduate-feels-young-heart/" target="_blank">UKZN’s oldest graduate feels young at heart</a></span></p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color:rgb(255,102,0)"> “Equality in languages needs to be realised in South Africa,” she said.</span></p></blockquote>
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<p>A strong advocate for the introduction of inclusive language policies
at more universities in the country, Jeewa said, “UKZN’s introduction
of isiZulu as a compulsory module is an example of an inclusive language
policy that gives due recognition to the predominant language (isiZulu)
in KZN.”</p>
<p>Her PhD study investigates language repertoires and identities among high school pupils in KZN.</p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color:rgb(255,102,0)">She is conducting her
research in predominantly Indian communities with a focus on variants of
“SA Indian English”, exploring how language can shape identities.</span></p></blockquote>
<p>“Often we find that our accents, the way we speak is determined by
the communities where we grew up, and this plays a big part in helping
shape our identities,” said Jeewa.</p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color:rgb(255,102,0)">She is also interested in how the language variants have changed over the decades, since Indians first arrived in Natal in 1860.</span></p></blockquote>
<p>GradStar entries co-ordinator, Ms Khululwa Tom said the country needs more young people like Jeewa.</p>
<p>“This is the second year that Sana has been chosen to be in the
Top100, which proves that she has a star quality about her. She is very
passionate about her studies and has a “can do” attitude. She also has a
passion for helping others which she shows through tutoring and
motivating younger students to fulfil their potential and achieve their
own dreams,” she said.</p></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>