Cedar pupil is RCL district chair

Cedar High School of Arts pupil has been appointed the new Representative Learner Council chairperson of the Metro South District.

Jade Joy Swartz, 18, from Lentegeur, said she is excited to be part of the RCL and being a voice for scholars.

The elections were held on Thursday March 2 at Zwaanswyk High School in Retreat. Any grade could run for the RCL group. She only has one term to run with her team.

“I am focusing on vision and discipline. I believe that I’ve been called for a time such as this to bring a positive contribution of change with dignity. I’ve seen young people, like me, who may find it hard to deal with discipline. We need to look into our code of conduct again,” she said.

“Our schools motto is enter to learn, leave to serve, so that includes no racism, no bullying, no sexism, and equality for both teachers and pupils,” she said during her speech on Thursday March 2.

She didn’t expect to be elected.

“I felt honoured and grateful,” she said.

“I’m looking forward to changing the pupils' mindsets to uniforms. It’s the pride of a school and also our way of thinking towards academics and life after school,” she said.

“As a school we are proud of Jade and her big accomplishments. Not many females this age aspire to dream big. She's quite different and she’s a positive role model at this age. Sometimes you expect your parents to be your role model but young people can be a role model too. She’s now a role model in the entire Western Cape. We are proud to say she’s one of our own,” said Sanfra Alaart, a teacher at Cedar High School.

Cedar High School principal, Belinda Groeneveldt, said they’re very proud of Jade.

“She’s a remarkable young lady. She's a true ambassador for their school, does every positive thing for our school and goes out of her way to promote this school. She’s been working on her character building and worked hard to be part of this,” she said.