Survival of the Fresher

Profile on Brett Ian Sutherland ________________________________________________________________

Overcoming many difficulties in the first year

When I first met Brett I saw a typical young “white” boy and the first thing that came to my mind was that maybe he had accompanied his older brother to University just for the fun of it. It came as a very big surprise to me when I realised that he had just finished registering to study here at Rhodes University .“This young,” I thought to myself.

Having grown up in a farm, his family moving from place to pace around the country, his father finally starting a business in Cape Town, Brett’s life takes a radical twist for the better. “We were living in a corrupt place and moved to a more conservative and safe place,” he recalls what he used to call home. Brett Ian Sutherland is no different from any other boys his age, rebellious and at times respectful towards the elders. Having attended a Christian primary school to a less spiritual and more academic high school, Brett is going to be just fine at University, so he thought.

Coming from one of the biggest cities in the country, Cape Town, he found himself in one of the smallest cities in the country, called Grahamstown. He tells himself that he is going to survive. “ I didn’t even know that Grahamstown existed until a friend of mine told me about Rhodes University,” says Brett as he cracks up laughing.

He laughs generously; sometimes it’s a giggle, sometimes a windy squall. As we sat down at his house dinner table, he keeps swaying his tiny wrist sideways. His blue eyes keep moving up and down gazing at the white wall, behind me, as if he is contemplating what to say next.

“My parents told me to choose whatever subjects I wanted to choose, they told me they had the money to finance my studies, the choice was up to me,” he says fondly. I was always amongst the top performing students in high school so I knew it was going to be very hard to maintain that standard here at University. Also my grade 12 teacher warned me about that.”

“I expected University to be the same as high school in terms of the relationship between lecturers and students. Because in high school you could go to a teacher if you had a problem and the teacher would willingly help you. But here the lecturer never even asks if we have any problems, they are far removed from the students, it is very disappointing,” his voice saddens a bit. “I thought they were going to help me when I needed help choosing my major subjects also.”

“My first bad moment at University was failing 3 economics tests in a row. What really killed me is the fact that I had worked hard for those tests, the problem is that I did not know what was expected of me,” he furiously looks side ways as if he is concealing his shame. “In the first few academic terms I was really struggling with all my subjects and my assignments were all terrible. There was a point in my life where I doubted whether I was smart enough to make it here. As I got familiar with the environment and the people around me, I started improving drastically and I am doing very well now with all my subjects” he smiles with his white teeth illuminating his ever cheerful face.

Having done what all young boys do in their teenage years, he finds himself having to repeat that era of his life again just to conform to the norm of being a fresh man. He thinks Rhodes University is not suitable for people like him. “ Im very quiet and very reserved, I enjoy studying and working hard. Sometimes that is seen as not conforming to the ideal image of the Rhodes student . “It is very hard to make good friends because most students here like to go out partying and getting trashed,” he states. These powerful words make so much sense and take me back to my own life as a first year student at Rhodes University.

“Stay true to yourself and you will never go wrong,” he says.
ENDS

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