New Era College of Arts Science and Technology was excited to host an appreciation ceremony in honor of its best ever performing group of student athletes to participate at the BOTESSA Athletics Championships.
The appreciation ceremony was held at the College grounds in Block 8 in the presence of members from the senior management team as well as delegates from BOTESSA as well as the Botswana Athletics Association. The objective of the ceremony was to appreciate the brilliant efforts of the students who triumphed against all odds in the challenging COVID 19 conditions of training where in some instances they had to go months without having access to the track.
Giving his remarks on the day, Director of Student Affairs, Mr Bogosi Monyamane shared that, “New Era College shares a common vision with BOTESSA and BAA, which is developing athletics by enhancing and promoting healthy, fair competitions in pursuit of excellence in sports and wellness.”
The auspicious event was also graced by the presence of the CEO of New Era College, Professor Amos Thapisa who outlined some key steps the College has taken to ensure the success of its students learning and living life. Giving his words of encouragement to students, the professor explained that, “In order for us to succeed as an institution of higher education, our fears and negative effects from Covid 19 must be overcome in order to continue with our teaching and sporting activities.”
The College has made significant investments in the development of Batswana athletes as has been evidenced through their partnership with the Ghodrati Foundation to award Sports Scholarships to excelling sports stars so that they have an alternative option of a career path once their sporting careers are over. To date the College has invested over 1 million pula towards ensuring that young Batswana athletes have access to quality education.
BOTESSA was represented on the day by their President, Mr Keorapetse Setlhare who was overjoyed by the amazing support New Era College continues to give its sports stars. He said, “New Era College is one of the few institutions that really goes out of their way to support its students and I am encouraging other institutions to follow suit. The efforts made in supporting these students will be felt in years to come when they represent Botswana at the global stage.”
When giving his testimony, Moabi Keaitse, who obtained a gold medal in the men’s 200m, stated that, “We would really like to appreciate everyone who made this achievement possible and hope to make you all proud and make a name for both the College and the country as being sporting centers of excellence.”
In his closing remarks, Managing Director of New Era College Mr Danesh Sobhani said, “We are very proud of our students and hope that we will equally have academic success from them as well as sporting success.”
The College completed the games with six gold medals, one silver and one bronze medal and finished second in the overall medals standing out of 63 institutions across the country. The College is proud of its sports stars and aims to create a pipeline of high performing athletes for both the College and National teams.