Ultimately, the Old Boys and the current Helshoogters have a common main goal, namely for the House and the Helshoogte community to be a place where we can shape each other for another 50 years (and even longer). The House we can return to for annual reunions, because it has endured despite challenging times on a modern campus. Hence it is important to join hands with the current Helshoogters, under the guidance of the House Committee, and focus our energy on topical issues to ensure that Helshoogte stands the test of time for many years to come.

The current long-term vision of the House is to become the Premier Male Community in South Africa with the aim of developing and producing well-rounded individuals that can be sent into the world. Now that’s what you call a worthwhile cause! As Old Boys, we also want to support the endeavours of the new Helshoogters during their upcoming term

Traditionally, our 5-year reunions are virtually the only events that Old Boys can look forward to. However, this is an issue that we want to change in the coming years so that there could be more contact between former Helshoogters.

For this reason, we would like to invite all Old Boys to attend the Stellenbosch Alumni events as a starting point to build closer ties. These events are offered annually in various regions across the country and worldwide. We want to offer these opportunities so that Helshoogters can establish ties and strengthen their networks. The idea is that in-between the annual Maties Alumni functions we present Helshoogte-specific gatherings for Hellies who are living in the area.

We count on the cooperation and support of all our former Helshoogters to participate in the process and systematically extend the ties so that together we can establish a strong local network over the next few years.

A list of Maties Alumni events is available at https://console.vpaper.ca/stellenbosch-university/alumni-calendar-2024_eng/.

Naturally, the main focus for the term ahead is to build up to the 55-Year reunion in 2028. That is why it remains as an ongoing point to focus on. However, the Committee also realise that it would be unwise to focus on only one ‘major’ reunion every five years, while in the short term regarding all the other reunions as ‘minor’ events. That is why we want to move away from the idea of traditional major and minor reunions. To this end, we would like to join hands with the Helshoogte House Committee to put together an annual programme during the University’s Homecoming Weekend for Helshoogters’ return to Matieland. This will be an opportunity for them to network with their fellow Helshoogters and reignite and strengthen old friendships.

Since our Helshoogte community has been going for 50 years now, we can definitely say that Helshoogte no longer has a young or small alumni base. For a long time, very few or no vehicles or initiatives were available for Helshoogte Alumni to support with great conviction or to rally behind vigorously. As a committee, we want to change that by building on the existing 50-year foundation through the establishment of an official bursary fund. This fund will be used to assist Helshoogters financially with bursaries and other needs aimed specifically at academically deserving Helshoogters. Every year, many Helshoogters are forced to terminate their studies for financial reasons when study funding dries up. Although there are funding mechanisms available within the University, these are spread across all the residences and private student organisations. By introducing the fund, we hope to provide a vehicle that could support the Helshoogte community on an annual basis. We trust that this initiative will grow over the coming years as the fund becomes established and more and more students benefit from it.

All Old Boys should please keep their eyes peeled for more information about the fund in future communications.