As our teachers return to school tomorrow, we take great pride in welcoming three new educators to the Union High School, Graaff-Reinet team.
Old Unionite, Mr ๐ฆ๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ด๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐ญ๐๐น, returns to his alma mater this year as Unionโs new Grade 8 and 9 Afrikaans educator.
Prior to accepting this position at Union, Mr van Zyl was employed at Kingswood College in Makhanda, where he served as the Junior Schoolโs Head of Afrikaans.
In addition to being passionate about teaching, Mr van Zyl possesses a love of sport that has seen him acquire a diverse skillset as a coach.
In addition to being a certified triathlon coach, Mr van Zyl also has a wealth of experience in the coaching of rugby, hockey, athletics, trail running, middle distance running, cycling and swimming.
๐๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ณ ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ ๐ก๐บ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
It would not be wise to ask new teacher Mrs ๐๐ป๐ปรฉ๐น๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ธ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฑ what she did before coming to Union High School.
Rather, it might save one time to ask what she ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต do.
Mrs Ekkerd has taught Accounting to Grade 8 to 12 learners for the past 22 years (17 of which has been for Grade 12), she has also taught Grade 8 and 9 EMS. In addition to this, she served as a member of her previous schoolโs senior management team, disciplinary committee and examination committee (among other), while also making time to serve as grade head and subject head.
Her talents, however, isnโt confined to the classroom, as, during her years in education, Mrs Ekkerd has also proven to be a deft hand on the sports field, coaching 1st team netball and athletics.
Now Mrs Ekkerd (who moved to Graaff-Reinet in 2022 when her husband, Rev. Johann Ekkerd, was called to serve as the new reverend of the Dutch Reformed Church), has moved on to the next step in her life: teaching Grade 9 EMS, Grade 10 LO and Grade 10 to 12 Accounting at Union.
๐๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ข๐ด๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด’ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ-๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ.
There are some teachers who engrain a mark so deeply in the psyche of both their charges and the institution that they are a part of, that the loss of them creates a void that is difficult to fill. Mr ๐๐น๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ท๐ถ๐ฒ๐ is one of these remarkable educators and humans.
After having left Union at the end of 2019 to pursue full-time ministry (and being sorely missed since by all those at the school), we are ecstatic to report that Mr Jantjiesโ journey had led him back to Union.
Come Wednesday, 18 January, Mr Jantjies will be back in front of the classroom, teaching Mathematics to Unionโs Grade 8 to 12 learners.
To say that we are glad to have him back, would be an understatement.
Mr Jantjies first walked through the doors of Union as an educator in July 2014… Unionโs Maths department would never be the same again!
His classes were engaging, fun and challenging and even when the topic wavered a little to conspiracy theories and the like โ always thought provoking and entertaining.
Mr Jantjies initiated the annual โNieu-Bethesda Maths Campsโ where Grade 11 Maths Formal learners were exposed to different aspects of the fascinating subject, and came away enlightened and excited, having dealt with fractals, maths in nature, structural engineering, coding and the like.
Mr Jantjies can be described as an enthusiast of note. The passion he has for his subject shone through him and into those he taught. This passion was also evident in the work he did with the Media Team, and the bi-monthly video production of the โUnion Newsโ which fast became a popular and powerful marketing tool for the school, as well as top quality, professional entertainment which everyone looked forward to.
Many Union learners became quite professional news reporters under his guidance โ and the fun which they had in the process simply shone through them.
As a Grade 10 class teacher, Mr Jantjies also became a part of Unionโs annual โOdysseyโ. The first to say that he had never hiked or been exposed to the wilderness before, he took to it like a duck to water, and soon became hooked on what this experience offered.
He was an invaluable mentor to the Grade 10s on this difficult journey, and valued the deeper insight it gave him regarding those in his care. His delightful sense of humour, easy manner, open-hearted smile and sincerity made him a well-loved and respected educator and mentor to many.
๐๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ซ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ!
