[caption id="attachment_64706" align="alignright" width="300"] CHEERS TO A SUCCESSFUL CAREER: With retirement finally beckoning, John Wegerhoff of Great Brak River toasts 50 years of service in the teaching profession -[/caption]
Acting principal of Greenwood Independent School retires after 50 years of service.
After spending no fewer than 50 years as a science teacher, Port Elizabeth-born John Wegerhoff will finally bid the chalkboard, colleagues and pupils farewell in April.
Wegerhoff, 72, of Great Brak River, will retire as acting principal from Greenwood Independent School in Plettenberg Bay after joining the school in August last year. But that was just a tiny fraction of his career.
Greenwood’s new principal Luke Perkins arrives to take over the reins in April. Wegerhoff, who was born in Walmer, said his father who was a principal had inspired him to follow a career in education.
“My father was a principal so we were always involved with teaching matters. I was also awarded two bursaries to study science teaching at university,” he said.
Wegerhoff, who matriculated at Grey High School, studied a B.Sc (Hons) degree at Rhodes University.
He then obtained a Bachelors degree in education at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University – then UPE – before completing his M.Ed thesis at the University of Cape Town.
He started teaching in 1964 at Kingswood College in Grahamstown where he taught physics and chemistry up to post-matric level. He then returned to Grey High School in 1969.
Wegerhoff attributed the success of his career to the passion he has for teaching and his love for science.