La Lucia’s Xanthe Hunt receives coveted Chancellor’s Medal
The former Crawford College La Lucia learner recently received the coveted Chancellor's Medal at Stellenbosch University’s (SU) seventh graduation ceremony.
DOCTOR Xanthe Hunt (27), originally from La Lucia in Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, recently received the coveted Chancellor’s Medal at Stellenbosch University’s (SU) seventh graduation ceremony.
The former Crawford College La Lucia learner, is the recipient of SU’s coveted Chancellor’s Medal that is awarded annually to a final year or postgraduate student who has not only excelled academically, but also contributed to campus life in various ways and worked hard at developing co-curricular attributes. At the same ceremony Hunt also received a PhD in Psychology.
The secret to her success, she says is that was fortunate enough to have had amazing mentors – particularly in the field of psychology – to work with.
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“A PhD is that moment where you contribute something – its framed as the first time in your career when you do something original. But I think what might get missed in that framing is that it is built on the back of years and years of mentorships, classes and nurturance from thoughtful teachers.”
Hunt already has some 30 academic publications to her name. This is more than many academics in psychology have contributed in their entire careers, says Prof Awie Greeff, Chair of the Department of Psychology at SU.
She is also the first master’s student in the history of the Department whose degree was upgraded to a PhD.
Since starting her studies at SU in 2010, Hunt won among others the SU Political Science Award for Excellence for Top Achieving First Year Student; the Department of English’s Award for Excellence for Top Achieving First Year Student and the Rector’s Award for Academic Excellence Top Faculty Achiever (on three occasions). She was also offered the prestigious Babette Taute English Scholarship.
Amazingly, Hunt passed cum laude in every single subject she took, with the exception of a single service module. During the first five years of her studies, she achieved an average of 82.08 per cent.
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Her research spans disability studies, public health, monitoring and evaluation of early childhood interventions, and academic communication. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in the Humanities, Honours degrees in Journalism and in Psychology, a Master’s Degree in Biostatistics, and now a PhD in Psychology.
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