Mike Stevens - 50 Years of Service

https://player.vimeo.com/video/1083397353

Mike Stevens: The start of my career was interesting because I was on a studentship, which meant that I was bonded for three years. And it took me a little bit of time to decide whether or not that was something that I wanted to do, because when I was 21 years old, three years seemed like an eternity.

So I can remember clearly turning up on the first day, and I went then and met the head of science. I was given a box of chalk, two textbooks, year eight and year nine science, and a year 11 biology book. And that was pretty much it.

I really feel that Vermont Secondary College is part of my family. I got married while I was at Vermont. I had both my children when I was at Vermont. So it’s been very close to me.

I enjoyed the relationships with families and students, but probably one of the highlights of all of that is the fact that I ran the sports program here for 18 years, and that was a huge part of why I stayed at Vermont.

Jenna Richards: I have known Mike since 1995, when I would have been 12 years old. Mike taught me, but he didn’t teach me till later on. I would have met him for the first time in term three when I was in year seven, as he was my basketball coach. And I remember he’s firm but fair, but he was also just a really, really brilliant teacher.

I loved my year 11 and 12 biology classes. They were my best subjects, they were my favourite subjects, and I think that was mainly due to having Mike teach them.

Mike Stevens: We’ve been blessed at Vermont with some unbelievably talented students going through. We’ve had a number of students that have competed for Australia. I’m very proud of Louise Borden, who played beach volleyball for Australia in the Olympics for many years. I taught her to play volleyball. If she hadn’t been involved in volleyball at Vermont, she never would have gone and done that.

And we’ve had probably 4 or 5 basketballers that came to the school and have gone on to represent Australia as well. So those involvements have been fantastic. All of those things I found really rewarding. And the relationships you develop with those kids, last lifelong.

I would say to a young staff member starting that they need to be kind to themselves. They need to make sure that they can manage their time and they need to have, you know, other interests besides their teaching and not let it become all-consuming.

Jenna Richards: When I first started at Vermont, we did something called learning walks, where we get to go and observe other people teaching. And I went and observed him teaching and I kind of actually got a little bit lost sitting back going, ‘oh, I do that’. And so I actually walked away realising how much he influenced my style of how I do my job as well.

Mike Stevens: It is an unbelievably fulfilling career and something that I’m very proud of, and I would certainly encourage anybody still to go into teaching. It’s a thing that I’ll always look back on with a great deal of pride.

[End of transcript]

Updated 16 May 2025

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Mike Stevens - 50 Years of Service

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