About Venustia
Venustia PSO is a tight-knit community which aims to embody our motto, beauty through strength. This motto is represented by our symbol the majestic Swan.
Venustia consists of Stellenbosch University students living in private accommodation. Venustia’s members aspire to be value-driven and to constantly cultivate an uplifting environment. We inspire our members in ways that promote a sense of self-discovery and group connection, within our community as well as with communities around us. Venustia forms part of the Rubix Cluster, where small families are joined, a sense of community is built and where everyone is offered a chance to broaden their horizon.
Venustia’s members are encouraged to express their beliefs and values, as well as build relationships with others. We strive to create a blossoming environment that for all those who find themselves apart of Venustia will feel comfortable and confident enough to develop in.
A private Student Organisation (PSO) is an organisation of students who do not live in official University accommodation for the purpose of organisational and community-driven purposes. Such PSOs have a student leadership structure, and private students are allocated into one per the University Placement Policy. All PSOs and residences are then grouped in clusters according to location, there are 7 clusters all together on Stellenbosch campus.
Venustia's vision and mission
Our vision in Venustia is to create a space of safety and sustainability. An area where inclusivity is embraced and celebrated. We wish to engage with the communities around us and to invest our time in social impact projects. Our mission is to nurture the vibrant culture Venustia has to offer amongst newcomers as well as our senior swans. We strive to fully embrace our motto ‘Beauty through strength’ along with the Institutional values, to breed the confident and empowering Swans that shine through in different communities.
Venustia's values
Respect: Acting in a way which shows care for other’s feelings and well being. Have due regard for other’s opinions, wishes and rights. Venustia believes in having respect for yourself, others and the environment.
Integrity: Venustia believes in having integrity through consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcomes, regarded as the honesty and truthfulness of one’s actions.
Compassion: Compassion in the sense of both trying to understand another’s pain, as well as the desire to somehow mitigate that pain, regardless of knowledge (or the lack thereof) of their current standing.Venustia believes in having compassion for others, as well as for yourself.
Inclusivity: Venustia believes that inclusivity stems deeper than mere “accommodation” and therefore intend on incorporating people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalised into our community. Venustia believes in including all different types of people and treating them all fairly and equally.
Equality: Venustia believes in substantive equality, not formal equality. Venustia aims to give everyone what they need to grow and be successful, as we acknowledge that not everyone starts at the same place, and not veryone has the same needs. Venustia strives for eventual equality, while understanding the reality that we can only reach that goal through substantive equality.
The history of Venustia
Venustia was established in 2008 making us one of the younger PSOs recognized by the university. We were established as a sister house to our brother house, Pieke. Due to the young nature of our PSO we love to thrive in the ability to experience both new ideas and ways of thinking. We attach great value to continuous reflection on how much we have grown and also to aligning ourselves with future growth.
Activities and offerings
Venustia strives to foster a feeling of genuine connection among our members by providing plenty of opportunities for interaction. We offer a range of both cultural and sports activities as well as many recreational activities that can be participated in throughout the year.
Where Venustia is, growth follows. Through our various activities we encourage members to extend their comfort zones into new depths of self-discovery and strength. We do this through ensuring all activities are joined with a supportive and enthusiastic atmosphere. Throughout the year we do lots of fun things and have many events including various dances, Hockey, Netball, Table Tennis, Drama, SU Acapella, Connect Tour, Womxn empowerment, critical engagements, virtual offerings on various platforms such as Instagram and much more.
In short, we offer a family environment… We offer a home away from home!
Mentorship offered by Venustia
Mentors are members of Venustia who have been selected to help assist the newcomers during their transition into university life. The mentors play a vital role in not only ensuring Venustia remains a space that fosters compassion, open-mindedness and inclusivity but allow the newcomers the opportunity to be engaged and active students on campus despite living in private accommodation. The Venustia Mentor group consists of 16 dedicated students who are eager to grow and adapt alongside the newcomers in a way that is both meaningful and impactful.
Venustia's Primaria
Angelique Barroso
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Social Media
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Venustia's Instagram profile.