This week marked the 18th anniversary of my first day at my current workplace.  This has led me to consider the journey so far.

In 1993 I was looking into changing paths in my career. Teaching music had emotionally and physically drained me and I was finding that I no longer had the same love of music that I had when I started on this path. I no longer enjoyed singing and my creative side was tapped out. I wanted the joy of music back in my life and teaching it in high school was not going to return the joy.

So I applied for and was accepted into a graduate course in Teacher-Librarianship which I studied for a semester and then deferred to accept an offer in a Masters program in language and literacy.  This seemed like a way to keep teaching but not encroach on the music that fed my spirit.

The subjects related to language acquisition held particular interest and I felt motivated to apply for a job I might never have considered previously – teaching in an ELICOS college.  So in September 1994 I sent off my cv and within days was called in for an interview.

What can I say about that interview? Firstly, on the way from the station to the college I was almost run over by a car that ran a red light.  That didn’t bode well for the day.  I arrived at the college and was met by a young woman who took me to meet Kathy, the Director of Studies.  Interview time!

About 10 minutes into the interview I realised was still wearing my prescription sunglasses. D’oh! Great first impression Shaz!  Kathy and I shared a joke about me forgetting to switch glasses and the ice was broken.

Kathy and I chatted for about half an hour and then I was introduced to David, the owner of this new college.  David offered to show me around and when we got to the front of the college asked me what we laughingly called the observation test.  The front floor of the lower ground floor premises sloped and David asked me what I thought the premises were prior to becoming a college. “Don’t know,’ said I. ” A parking area?”.  David said I was the first to correctly guess the purpose of the sloping entrance.  I had to wonder as I left if that was the test to see if I was a suitable candidate for employment.

That night Kathy phoned me and said that, though they had no students yet, she was really keen to have me on staff so she hoped I had no offers before they had a job for me. Kathy and I had, and still have, a lot in common.  We had both raised children alone after the end of our marriages, had other children later, shared a love of music and literature and had the same sense of humour.  Who’d have thought all those years ago that this slightly eccentric and very creative ex-hippy University of Hawaii graduate and I would have become firm friends as we worked together to build this new school into a major education provider.

A couple of months after the interview Kathy called me and asked me to do a few days of relief teaching and then engaged me to start ongoing work from the start of 1995.  Those few days of relief teaching were exhilarating, though I might have been more nervous had I known that one of the students was the owner’s mother!  Whatever I did must have been OK or they wouldn’t have had me back.

January started with a small family group doing English in the morning and then trips around Sydney in the afternoon.  But by the end of January I had my first proper class, a High School Preparation group of kids learning English so they could go to high schools in Sydney.  It was full-speed ahead from there on.

As time went by I shared a lot of milestones with the college: 50 students, 100 students, 250 students, the opening of the vocational college, a second campus, 500 students, the establishment of the high school, 1000 students, a third campus, 2000 students, a fourth campus, 2500 students, a fifth campus, an interstate campus, the closure of the high school.

In addition I have been there through the impact of global events and national legislative changes all of which have impacted on the college and its student numbers.  Together we have survived the effects of the Asian financial crisis of the 90s, SARS, the 9/11 bombings, the negative publicity in India after the Indian student problems in NSW and Victoria, the GFC, numerous regulatory changes, swine flu and the impact of college closures.

With each new challenge or change we have adapted and continued to grow.  While at times there may have been a slowing or decline in student numbers, through astute management the college has survived.

There are people who have made the journey so far a wonderful one. Kathy, my sage counsellor and mentor, whose friendship I have cherished, introduced me to the wonderful world of functional grammar and shared the laughter and fun.

Then there is David and Susan, the owners of the college, who have enabled me to develop as a teacher, mentor and manager and who have never doubted my ability to deal with whatever challenges are thrown at me.

I have been part of a great team of managers since moving from classroom teaching to  sharing the laughter, toil and tears with Avril, Amanda, Ken, Alex, Nick and Carolin over the years.

Special mention to Carolin who has been here for 15 of my 18 years.  I am not sure how I would have coped without her support and her jokes.  Her sense of humour has enlivened me when I have felt exhausted and I think that we work exceptionally well as a team. We hold one another up when needed and provide a comforting shoulder when needed. I am grateful that I have such a great colleague and friend.

I have been fortunate to work with a huge number of teachers over the years, some more closely that others when they became managers in my team. They helped me to ensure that our department ran efficiently and effectively in providing quality education.  In no particular order I am thinking of Lisa, Sally, Betsey, David M, David H, Carla, Anushka, Janice, Kellie, Adam, Pam, Phil, Arvinder and Connell.

I have also been lucky to have met thousands of students from all over the world.  When I started to contemplate the vastness of the number of students whose journey I have been part of as they developed their English skills and gained their qualifications I was humbled by the thought that I have, in some way, contributed to helping them achieve the academic dream they had when they left their country and their family to come to Australia to study.

Tens of thousands of students have passed through our doors since I first started teaching here in 1994.  Some stand out clearly, like our first HSP class who wrote and performed plays and proved that it is possible to do drama if English is your second language as long as you are working within the boundaries of the English you know. Or the EAP class that cheated unbelievably when we played language games. The numerous students over the years who called me Mum. The students who keep in touch and contact me whenever they are in Australia. Those who share their stories with me through Facebook. The first HSC group and the last.  The students who came back to work for us after they finished their studies.

I have shared the joyful news of staff members’ marriages and the birth fo their children as well as the sad news of the passing of former staff members. For these I can only be comforted by the thought that their legacy lives on through the achievements of the students whose lives they touched.

This week, coincidentally, I have also heard from some of the inaugural teachers as they are looking to return to casual teaching and are looking for advice from me about what they need.  Hearing from them made me recall those early days in the staffroom with Vivien, Gillian, Eleanor, Jean, Dana, Ian, Steve, Owen et al.  Who could have known that ideas we came up with then are still events in the college calendar? Who would have thought all those years ago that we’d now have almost 200 staff and contractors here?  How could I have imagined then that I’d have had the pleasure of getting to know hundreds of great teachers who are such exceptional human beings?

I have seen staff-student revues being staged, shared picnics and parties, been to seventeen staff Christmas parties, with one more coming up next month. I have met tens of thousands of interesting people and heard their stories and shared their achievements. I am constantly in awe of the creative talent of the people who I see every day.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the past 18 years.  As I have been saying all week, I have now reached adulthood in this college. To quote one of the teachers “This fantastic college has changed my life in a way I would never have anticipated in my wildest imagination. I will never forget it”.

It’s been an interesting journey from the first baby steps of the new college.  It will be just as interesting to see what lies ahead.