Yolanda Mni, Head Girl 2015, excelled during her year as head girl of Riebeek College Girls’ High School and rounded off her successful tenure as a grounded, mature, discreet, efficient head girl with an astounding number of awards at the annual prizegiving.

Achievement and Merit Certificates for First Position in Accounting, Hutton Cup and Subject Prize for Best Performance in Accounting, Physical Sciences, the Mary Minty Subject Prize for Best Performance in Physical Sciences and Mathematics, the McDonald Dodds Prize for Best Performance in Mathematics and Merit Certificates for English, Afrikaans and Life Sciences

Tennis

Dorothy Dodd Cup (Open Singles): Yolanda Mni

Tennis Cup & Harvey Cup (Open Doubles Championships): Yolanda Mni & Christen Subramanien

ALL ROUNDER AWARDS

Re-award

DEPORTMENT

Re-award

ACADEMIC COLOURS

Re-award in Grade 12

ACADEMIC HONOURS

Re-award in Grade 12

SPECIAL AWARDS

Head Prefect’s Award: Yolanda Mni

Premier Awards:

Anna Ofsowitz Award (The top academic performer in Grade 12 in 2015)

Vivian Strydom Cup (Contribution to Cultural Activities)

Mayor’s Trophy (Best All Rounder in Grade 12

School Dux

Yolanda’s attainment of the Vivian Strydom Cup is a wonderful achievement as one would expect that as head girl and a matric who would be focusing on her academic work, she would need to cut back. Here is a description of the award:

Vivian Strydom was a past mayor of Uitenhage. This cup requires a learner to be the face of culture at Riebeek and should be a young lady with public speaking ability who has poise, confidence, a love of the arts, a willingness to be involved in a range of activities in the school and a commitment to these activities over a period of time. The recipient should have supported a number of the school’s cultural events. She could have been involved in English Olympiad, Quiz, Inter-house Oratory, Induction Party, Inter-house Plays, the Cultural Board, poetry competitions or submissions to the Creative Writing section of the magazine or other publications, drama productions, Choir, Magazine Committee etc. She is recognised by the staff and her peers as “cultural vulture”or the face of culture at Riebeek. Her demeanour is that of a cultured person. She must have made positive contributions and served cultural spheres at the school. Her manner should have encouraged others to participate in cultural activities at the school.

Yolanda Mni in 2015 choreographed the annual drama production, Divas Through the Decades, and played an important role having been the director in 2014 of assisting fully the 2015 director. She danced and acted in the performance. She was the Master of Ceremonies at Miss Riebeek, the Oratory Competition, the inter-house plays and the Cultural Board Induction Dinner. She served as Deputy Head of the Cultural Board, a member of Phly Thread, SCA, Drama, Debating.

In 2014 Yolanda received this citation for her work with SCA:

Citation for Awarding the Panagis Trophy: Exceptional Service to a school based society to Yolanda Mni for her service to SCA.

Lana (Class of 2004) and Vera Panagis (Class of 2012) attended Riebeek College. Mr Panagis has been involved in the community. Lana was very involved in, amongst others, the First Aid Club and Vera was very involved in the Computer Club. The family describe this award as an award for giving of oneself and being dedicated to the school. The thought was that the person should be exemplary in various fields but have truly excelled in one field. In the Panagis family, respecting your elders, tradition and values are important. Vera says of this award, “I hope that the recipient of this award will feel special because they see that hard work does not have to go unnoticed and that taking pride in your work is very important. I would like a Riebeek girl to always know she is special. My sister, Lana, is a wonderful role model to me and this trophy was created to recognise people who, by their efforts, are role models of how to give fully to what you choose to be involved in. The Panagis family value their ties with Riebeek.” Lana received the Good Fellowship Cup in 2004.

When it comes to dynamos, there are few girls like Yolanda. Since taking over the role of Deputy of the SCA, Yolanda has excelled in every way going beyond the call of duty to make events successful. For the SCA Bash, within weeks of being elected, Yolanda choreographed the opening item and led practices daily to perfect the moves (even though her study schedule was hectic), served as MC and was a prayer partner. Yolanda was also the first one to collate the names of all those who had come forward for prayer and made sure that committee followed up on these learners. Stacey Weitz was concerned about who would take over the prayer group on a Tuesday and Thursday. The person most trusted to take over this delicate and draining task was Yolanda. She led by example, week after week, rain or shine, and made sure that girls were comfortable in the group. With the SCA retreat weekend, Yolanda and Tayla meticulously planned the events of the weekend, actively leading discussions on the planning of the S.U. Camp. Yolanda was the first one up at 5am to make sure that things panned out as planned. With the Brandwag Anibrandfees, the dance group was asked to perform and, in spite of having a Science test the next day, Yolanda served as a youth counsellor on the night. At the Grade 8 Welcome, Yolanda took the lead with items that needed to be purchased and, as MC, took the lead with the games that needed to be organised. She even took to serving the boerewors. At S.U. Sessions with the juniors, Yolanda and Simbulelo took the lead. Through any effort be it cake sales; Civvies Days or even painting backdrops in preparation for the Camp; Yolanda was always a major role player. With the S.U.Camp, Yolanda made sure that every act, band, play and booklet was organised. She was always the first one up in the morning and the last one patrolling at night. Sleeping on the floor was no problem for her. Even when one of the learners broke his arm, she was calm and kept things going in the face of this challenge. Learners that were troubled would seek out Yolanda as they found her a calming force.