Associate Professor Dr Venicia McGhie dedicates her life to uplift and motivate students from difficult backgrounds

Dr Venicia McGhie's CV includes an array of impressive accomplishments. Without knowing anything else about the UWC Associate Professor, it's quite easy to be intimidated by her list of qualifications and achievements.

She received her PhD in Education from the University of Stellenbosch in 2012 and was awarded the prestigious Fullbright post-doctoral scholarship, to study the factors that inhibit and enable student learning, in 2014.

Changing lives Dr McGhie has a passion for learning and in understanding the ways in which Universities can pro-actively intervene to improve learning outcomes, especially for first year students. To that end, she started raising funds in her personal capacity in 2012 to assist financially needy students in the Economics and Management Sciences Faculty she is a lecturer in.

She successfully registered as an NPO in 2015, and the initiative has gone from assisting eight students to more than 230 students with the day-to-day expenses many other students take for granted. The NPO supports these students on a monthly basis, assisting them for the full academic year.

Having overcome her fair share of obstacles to accomplish everything she has academically, few other people are in a position to appreciate the difficulties faced by new students.

Using obstacles as stepping stones Dr McGhie, who dropped out of school in grade 10, worked as a domestic worker, taxi driver, and in a shoe factory before eventually escaping an abusive relationship and moving to Cape Town from Potchefstroom, with her two children in 1985.

Her journey is as unique as it is rare. Dr. McGhie's own work is a testament to how hard academia is for every first-year student. Despite her multitude of accomplishments, she is nowhere near slowing down and still contributes wherever she sees a need.

Dr McGhie developed a Community Skills Development Short Course which she has registered with the UWC. The course will aim to teach foundational skills to women and unemployed youths in the community. The course will cover academic literacy, financial literacy, computer literacy and personal development and empowerment.

She also wrote an academic book after she and two master's degree students conducted seven years of research. The book - Accessing Post-school Studies: A Student's GPS to Successful Learning - was co-authored by Ms Madge du Preez and published in 2017. The idea for her book was borne out of a need to empower high school learners, their parents and the boarder communities so that they are knowledgeable about what to do while they are still at school, and what to expect once they are admitted to a university or college.

Going forward Dr McGhie plans to get the book into high schools across the province, and has made herself available to serve on a committee to oversee the work. A guide-book for teachers is also in the works, to better assist them on how to use the content of the book in Life Orientation classes.

In between all this, she also found the time to work on a second edition to her autobiography, And There is a Living God, which is due out in 2019.

We reached out to Dr McGhie to learn more about her life and experiences in academia. When you first started studying part time, was it hard as a woman and mother to not only find the time but also be recognised in the workplace?

It was challenging to study part-time, working full-time and raising two children on my own without any support from family members (my children and I were alone in the Western Cape - my siblings and other relatives are in North West Province and in Durban).

I had to sacrifice sleep and spending time with my children - but I explained to them that I am doing it to create a better future for us. My daughter assisted me and she looked after my son while I was attending evening classes. I had two part-time jobs as well - catering over weekends, and a gym in my garage to supplement my income. My ex-husband did not pay maintenance and I did not bother to ask for it - I decided that I would raise my children alone.

I enjoyed my job as data capturing clerk and I liked working with the students - so that was good. I did not have any issues' at work at the time it was only later when I continued studying and moved on to a faculty officer position that power play' appeared. However, I did not let that stop me - instead, I worked harder and I was determined to succeed with the help of the Lord.

It's also clear from your interview in the Argus that you are very passionate about education - where do you feel that passion stems from?

Both my parents were teachers - so maybe teaching was in my blood. However, when I started with my studies, I had no intention to become an academic. Studying was about empowering myself, obtaining a qualification and earning more money so that I could support my children comfortably. But, as I continued and passing my subjects each year, I realised that I enjoyed studying - and I simply continued because it was empowering, it broadened my knowledge base, it helped me developed in ways that I did not even know was possible. As our late president Nelson Mandela said - education is indeed the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world.

What advice would you want to share with students who feel overwhelmed about completing their studies?

The first thing I tell my students is that they should know who they are and why they are at university/college. They should believe and have faith a Living God who answers prayers, and they should love and respect themselves, and never give up. As I stated, when you fail at the first attempt (and even the second or third time), you are not a failure.

The second thing is that it is okay if you do not know something, or if you are in need of something. I encourage them to always speak up and as

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