BEHIND THE SCENES HERO “Johnny WaN”


INTERVIEWED AND TRANSLATED BY VIVIAN SO


Meet HKA’s Superman Johnny Wan, who keeps the school in good order. This HKA Maintenance Engineer comes in earlier than expected to check classrooms, washrooms, offices, and the rest of the campus before all students and staff arrive. He greets us at the bus bay while directing traffic with a confident and professional demeanour.


What is a normal day like for you? I come in every morning and walk through the school. This is a brief routine check for things like water fountains that might be running out and things that require fixing. I have a schedule of things to do and I need to pay special attention to school events that require setting up.


Where did you work before HKA? I heard that you were previously a police officer? Yes, I started serving the police force when I was seventeen and worked there for 39 years. Aſter I retired from the police force, I worked in the facilities department at a golf course. Before I came to HKA, I was working as a Maintenance Engineer at ESF.


Why did you choose to work in education aſter your retirement as a police officer? That’s a good question. I always thought about working at a school because you can see smiling faces all the time. I wanted a different lifestyle aſter retirement. It’s been great and I feel happy to be surrounded by students.


You can speak English very well. Where did you learn your language skills? I learned to speak English while I was a police officer. When I first joined the police department, I was on patrol duty around The Peak area. As you know, many expats live there so I made an application to study English in order to serve the community better. I worked during the day and went to school at night.


Outside of school, I learned English from listening to music and talking to people. Don’t be shy when learning a foreign language. My English skills aren’t good but I think I know enough to communicate with students and staff. I oſten get it right with the combination of luck, guessing, and body language! Thank you, Johnny, for being at HKA!


8


IN THEIR OWN WORDS A STUDENT’S VOICE


“The stairs.” “The stairs.” “That’s easy, the stairs.”


BY ELISA IP, A CURRENT HKA G12 STUDENT


This is the standard response to anyone who asks my friends and me for the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of Hong Kong Academy. The stairs were actually a close second, but we say “the stairs”, because this is an interesting response. But to me, what makes HKA different from other schools are its teachers, and the extraordinary relationship they have with the students.


Take Mr. Hasell for instance, he is an ideal example of this. Though strictly our English teacher, our classes would sometimes range from the text we were reading, to politics, or even economics on rare occasions. Part of his success was the way he treated us. He did not hold back anything and, as strange as it seems, this style of teaching taught us more than if we simply focused on the text in question. He knew each of us as a person, what we enjoyed and what made us interested in a topic. Through this, he was able to maximize our learning, allowing us to make connections to history and philosophy, and provide us with a broad range of new perspectives.


PHOTO: Elisa Ip at her portable work station.


He was by no means alone in accomplishing this. I can say now, that since coming to HKA in Grade 3, two things never changed; one was the attitude of the teachers, and yes, the stairs. Precisely because of the teaching style of the teachers, I learned and gained more confidence in not only my academics, but also in becoming a more rounded thinker. The teachers treated us more like friends than formal students, and that allowed us to open up more easily and so improve our learning.


Friendly banter between students and teachers is no stranger to our school, bringing to mind the oſten intense and comical debates between my friends Robert, James and our history teacher Ms. Thorne. I remember long conversations on colour and artists like Bacon and Rothko with Ms. Muller; the sharing of books and authors, as well as their techniques with Mr. Hasell; and discussions on animal communication and evolution with Ms. Harvey. And how can I forget the heated debates between Ms. Yong and Mr. Needham over Canada and Australia and the subsequent recruitment of students, me included, to aid them in conquering the other!


This unique relationship between teachers and students is what makes the environment of HKA so different from other schools. It is truly a place of learning and a space for risk-taking. The friendly manner of the teachers, their willingness to connect beyond the traditional teacher-student relationship, and the opportunities to truly engage in either subjects or in simply our interests, allow us to not only learn, but to be more equipped to climb the stairs in becoming a better person overall.


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