Dear alumni

At the age of six months, American Michael Kearney said to his paediatrician, "I have a left ear infection."

This academic prodigy graduated from high school when he was only six years old, and at the age of 22 he boasted two master’s degrees and a doctorate in chemistry.

Gifted and talented students show high-performance capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, according to the American federal government definition.

In this regard, we are certainly not lacking – we have an abundance of such people in South Africa in general and at the NWU in particular.

They include technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, and global leader in open source and venture philanthropy Mark Shuttleworth. We also have several child geniuses, including 10-year-old Sibahle Zwane from Soweto, who can instantly calculate huge sums in his head, and two-year-old Omphile Tswai from Mapobane in Tshwane who can read and identify geometric shapes.

Growing our own timber

When it comes to the NWU community, there are numerous highly talented people, as the articles in this edition of the NWU & U show.

Take marathon champion Elroy Gelant, for instance, or versatile artist Cronjé Lemmer. Or the three student leaders from the campus in Mahikeng who have developed their innate leadership abilities to such an extent that they are now transferring their skills to other aspiring young leaders.

The incredible thing is that each of us has the potential to excel in our particular strength.

In an article that appeared online in The Guardian newspaper, “What is talent – and can science spot what we will be best at?”, Scott Barry Kaufman emphasises the importance of giving back to the community by sharing the skills we have. “When each of us brings our individual talents together, the world becomes a masterpiece painting.”

So, whether your talent is having empathy with others, public speaking or singing like a nightingale, develop and practise these talents. Remember, the world is our canvas and we have a masterpiece to complete.

Sources: Wikipedia, Business Insider, parent24 and The Guardian.

Happy reading!

Nelia and the

NWU & U team