Just when you thought 2020 couldn’t get any worse.

Just when you thought 2020 couldn’t get any worse. On the 8th of May, I interviewed Richard Washington as he has announced that he will be leaving STC. 

The college will be losing an irreplaceable teacher, coach and friend. After 12 long years of hard work, Richard Washington leaves the saints and head on to a different path in his teaching career. Richard Washington began here in 2008, he first began at Mairehau High School. He was them approached by an old university friend to come teach here at the college. Washy jumped at the opportunity and has been here at STC ever since. During the interview, he was asked to list 5 things he would miss here at STC. Washy ends up listing 10 things and says it is a “special place”.

Great teacher but even better coach. 

The 2018 1st XI will go down as the greatest football team is STC history. The team won the Canterbury tournament and even went on to play at a national level. But he wasn’t only a coach, he also had much love for the game. Richard was also a great player growing up and was found at the park a lot of the time training. He's made numerous representative teams growing up. In the interview he says he felt like “giving back to the game”, he then went on to coach football. Now, Washy has been known to be one of the best coaches here at STC and has helped many students make representative teams. He is now the head coach of the STC 1st XI and has led them to Nationals.

Washy and his family will be leaving St. Thomas will be moving to Korea where he will be teaching full-time. With the virus spreading, Washy has full confidence that it'll be a safe place for his family. In the interview he says: “Korea has been incredible with their responses and are very well set up with pandemics from the past”. But moving to an entirely different country would be a bit weird for most of us and Washy has done very well to prepare himself and his family. In the interview he says they’ve already learnt basic Korean and have familiarized themselves with the island that they will be staying at. Teaching in a different country with a different language would be very hard, but as for washy, it shouldn’t be a problem as they will be teaching at an international school, where everyone will be speaking in English.

Plans after Korea? 

A question Washy found hard to answer. Washy and his family haven't decided on what's next for them but coming back to NZ was an option. He says: “my family is still young, and we’d love to come back”. But its only one option out of many. “if we really enjoy it, I could extend my contract” Washy says.

Unfortunately, Washy’s years here at the college have finished and will be sadly be leaving. We wish nothing but the best for him and family. Wherever they are in the world, STC will always be a home for his family.

By Tom Fui