Alex teacher wins IT Lifetime Award
DESPITE the first portable computers not having been invented when he was in school, an Alexander Road High School teacher recently scooped the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Eastern Cape Chapter of the Institute of Information Technology Professionals.
A gala dinner hosted at the Radisson Blu Hotel last week aimed to honour Information Technology professionals, students, teachers and pupils for their achievements and contributions to the field.
Alexander Road High IT teacher and former pupil Keith Gibson was one of 10 individuals honoured at the awards.
Gibson walked away as the Eastern Cape IITPSA 2018 IT Teacher of the Year (a Lifetime Achievement Award) for his outstanding contribution to IT and Computer Applied Technologies education in the province and nationally.
The IT expert has honed his skills and shared his knowledge with Alex pupils – including Amazon vice president David Brown and IBM vice president Grant Bodley – over the last 33 years.
“I started teaching in 1986 and the next year the school introduced computer studies in 1987 and I absolutely fell in love with the subject . . . My plan was only to teach for a few years and then go into the industry.
“But just seeing the passion these kids have for the subject and being able to stir that passion in the pupils is so fulfilling,” Gibson said.
Some of the other winners included Grey High School’s Michael Marais, and Linkside High’s Samantha Brown, who were chosen as the joint EC IITPSA 2018 IT Scholars of the Year for their outstanding achievements.
Cowan High School’s Mbulelo Njamela was awarded the EC IITPSA 2018 CAT Teacher of the Year Award for producing outstanding results among his pupils, aligned with those from better-resourced schools.
NMU’s Vuyolwethu Mdunyelwa was the IT Student of the Year, while Computing Sciences head of department Brenda Scholtz won the 2018 Woman in IT Award. And NMU’s School of ICT head of department Karen Church won the EC IITPSA 2018 Woman in IT (Lifetime) Award.