Campus student wins National FameLab competition

North-West University (Mafikeng Campus) student, Raven Motsewabangwe, made the campus proud when he was announced as the overall winner in the FameLab competition which was held during the National Science Festival (Scifest) in Grahamstown on the 14 March 2014. Motsewabangwe was competing with 18 other students from seven regions.

The 24-year-old is from a small village in Mafikeng called Mocoseng. He is presently studying towards an honour's degree in microbiology with the department of Biological Sciences.

His topic for the FameLab competition was: "Viral infection and its causes and how to prevent them".

FameLab is an international competition which aims to nurture engagement between science and society by creating spaces for young people to find their voices and talk about science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Contestants have three minutes to engage judges and a live audience on a topic in science, technology, engineering or mathematics. It is also designed to inspire and motivate people working in science and technology to play an active role in communicating their fields to the public through the medium of a talk given before the audience.

"Winning this competition made me realise that you can achieve more with little. It also shows that the campus can compete with anyone," said the ecstatic young scientist. "My passion for science started when I was in grade 5 and my dream was always to be a scientist," he added.

"A big thank you goes to my parents and lecturers for their encouragement. I hope this will also serve as an example to my sibling. Most importantly, I dedicate this achievement to my late friend Tshepang Masemola who used to encourage me on everything," concluded Motsewabangwe.

Motsewabangwe will represent South Africa in the international final at the Cheltenham Science Festival in the United Kingdom in June.