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Tuesday, 19 March, 2024
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Mr Nichol and his family at the retirement celebration on Sunday 03 March 2024.
Pictures: SUPPLIED
The cake from Sunday, made by Jayne Gibbs, class of 1994.
End of Upwey era By Shamsiya Hussainpoor Upwey High School teacher, Grant Nichol has retired after 35 years from an extraordinary career that made it hard to move on from. Teachers are called many things, educators, mentors, instructors and sometimes, even accidently mum and dad. No matter what they are called, a school’s greatest asset is having teachers with great personality that truly have a gift of influencing lives inside and outside of classrooms. To the school, Mr Nichol was not just a good teacher; he was like a candle – that continued to light the way for others. Whilst Mr Nichol is looking forward to spending his retirement days with his family, especially his grandson, he said he will miss the daily interactions with students the most
and of course his former colleagues. “Working with young people and interacting with them on a daily basis was what kept me young,” he said. “I couldn’t retire at 65, I couldn’t walk away. But I had to move on at some point.” During the beginning of his teaching career in Upwey High School, he was keen to get involved in outdoor activities like camping but the school didn’t have many camps back then. Mr Nichol along with another teacher, who started at the same time as him, put in the effort and established camps. “I got involved in doing camping and sport because it was a way to get to know the kids out of the classroom…when you got to know them out of the classroom, they were much
better and more likely to want to learn in the classroom and I learned that pretty early,” he said. Mr Nichol is officially retired, but he enjoys working and volunteering for the school, even to this day. “I’m easing out of teaching. I can’t quite walk away; I’m still doing the fun stuff.” He is employed to run the volleyball teams and help the school with camp trips, and last year he was asked by the school to run their 85th anniversary. Mr Nichol was known for his many great contributions and skills to the school and community. The school had no reunions so he started organising one and from there it became an annual thing for him and the school.
“Every year I was in charge of organising 10 year reunions, nowadays, I’m organising a 10 year, a 20, and a 30 year reunion every year,” he said. He’s determined to continue this, even after his retirement. “I’m not going to stop organising [reunions]; I was never paid to do them in the first place…it’s a great way to catch up with my former students.” During his final days, many students suggested to him they have to hold a party to celebrate his retirement. “A number of people said we’ll organise it and we’ll have a party…it all felt a bit hard to me and I wasn’t convinced they’d be much interested.” Continued page 12
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