Image: From the left: Hugo Endemann (Head boy), Safaa Jina (Head girl), and Liam Gouws (Deputy Head boy) from Curro Nelspruit unboxing the Curro Kathu’s travelling box.
The COVID-19 pandemic has meant communities have had to find new and intentional ways of keeping connected in a time of social distancing. In 2020 Curro Holdings held a special live virtual concert. This year, the group has arranged a travelling yearbook project. This will encourage Curro Matrics to capture their memories and connect to other Curro schools. Today Curro Nelspruit matrics have the opportunity of making meaningful memories.
Nine beautifully designed travelling boxes are making their way from one Curro school to the next. This takes place during the period of May to August. The box is packed with memory-making aids including Polaroid cameras, film, blank sheets of paper and fun stationery. Each group of Matric learners gets a chance to create scrapbook-like pages for their school’s section of the digital yearbook. Now it is the turn of Curro Nelspruit matrics to capture their memories.
“Matric is such a special year. It is the final one in the school career – and Curro wants to help their matrics to acknowledge and enjoy that,” says Marí Lategan, Curro’s Corporate Services Executive. “It’s especially tough during the pandemic, but we think this project is a lovely way of keeping connected. It is not just among the Matric learners here, but throughout the country.”
The theme for Curro matrics in 2021 concept is #currONfire. Every Curro project and event links back to the defined FIRE acronym. It stands for being Fierce, to always Inspire, taking Responsibility, or to Empower.
The Curro Matric memories project is called “Down the Rabbit Hole” and every box is whimsically packaged, referencing “a magical journey filled with discovery and possibilities”. They devide schools into groups based on proximity. Each school has a turn with the box. They complete their pages and pop them back in the box. They then write a message on a postcard for the next school in line (which that school gets to keep). A courier collects and deliver the box to that school.
At the end, all the completed pages of memories is delivered to Curro’s central marketing department for compilation. Both are printed as hard copies and electronic files. Curro share with all the schools involved, and turn a chapter in the digital yearbooks, which schools print, should they wish to do so.
At the end of the project, there is a lucky draw. Nine of the schools that have taken part have an opportunity to win a polaroid Instax camera. “It’s a lovely way to help Curro Matrics to create a memento of this period in their lives. Curro hopes this will be something they treasure forever,” says Lategan.
More on Curro Nelspruit:
https://schoolsthatrock.co.za/category/other-provinces/mpumalanga/mpumalanga-schools/