The number one thing Ewan Grant-Mackie hopes his students remember most about him is “my ability to laugh at myself”.
The 65-year-old assistant head of department for science at Thames High School told The Profile laughter was a constant feature in his department.
“I am surrounded by amazing and cheerful department members. The support we get and give from each other is fantastic.”
When it came to the students, he said it “fills me with pride” to see their care and acceptance.
“It reminds me that in spite of much negative media, our youth are capable of some amazing skills and attitudes.”
It sets the tone as the dedicated educator, who is one of the school’s longest-standing teachers, prepares to retire at the end of the school year.
Ewan started his journey as a teacher at Thames High in late January 1988. Apart from a year off in 2006 to study pukeko DNA, a term off in 2019 to look after his father when his mother passed away, and six months off in 2022 following heart surgery – “I have taught fulltime since then”.
One thing that helped to keep Ewan at Thames High was the proximity of Thames to Auckland when he was involved in regular sports such as underwater hockey, and later the proximity to Tauranga, where his daughter lived, he said. “I love the bush and sea, and have enjoyed them both here in Thames.” In recent years as a horticulture teacher, Ewan said it was wonderful to see the 15- and 16-year-old boys race off to the garden in order to eat their newly grown radishes, carrots and peas.
“I still get a kick out of seeing students apply a newly learnt scientific concept… to their own world around them and make sense of things.”
Something that recently occurred to Ewan was the fact he was now teaching grandchildren of his earlier students. His teaching style had changed in part over the years because of feedback and lessons learned from teaching the grandparents of some of his current students, he said.
“As a result, if there is anything my current students like or appreciate about me as a teacher, they should thank their grandparents.”
It was fair to say he had a few proud teacher moments.
“When I was recovering from major heart surgery a couple of years ago, I discovered that my cardiac care nurse was an ex-student from my year 12 biology class who had been fascinated by my descriptions of my three-year-old daughter’s heart surgery, and she decided to go into cardiac care.”
Ewan said his daughter was born with a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), which is a congenital heart defect.
Another “incredibly satisfying and humbling” moment was when brain scientist at Auckland Medical School Professor Maurice Curtis acknowledged Ewan as the biology teacher who started him on his career journey, he said.
It wasn’t hard to see – Ewan’s dedication to his role and his students was unmistakable.
One of the greatest lessons Ewan said he learned from his students was about the strength and passion to “stand up for what you believe in”, he said, “especially when you think someone has been unfairly treated”. “Students don’t always get it right in the way they respond, but you have to admire their loyalty.”
Ewan said he looked forward to having time to read, learn a new instrument, exercise, and catch up with family and rest in retirement.
As his time at Thames High will soon come to a close, he leaves behind not just lessons, but a legacy.
The message he wanted to share with the school community was captured in a quote by Albert Einstein: “not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted, counts”.
– By DAVIDDA HIKATANGATA
