For veteran teacher Wayne Cook one of the greatest things about teaching in the country is running into your students five, 10 or 15 years down the track and having them still greet you as Mr Cook.
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In three decades of teaching it is something that has never worn off for the Griffith East Public School figure who on Friday will call it quits on a stellar innings.
“I walk into shops and restaurants and there is an ex-student I taught 20 years ago, there are even a couple of teachers here at Griffith East now who I taught,” he laughed.
“City teachers don’t get that, I am able to catch up with my ex-students decades after I have finished teaching them.”
As a young man who moved from the city to tackle his first permanent post at Goolgowi Public School, Mr Cook said he originally had big dreams of earning the points for a move to the coast in three years.
“Goolgowi was that classic country town school, that cliche in that there was this wonderful farming community and the people were so hospitable,” he said.
Three decades later, as it often does, life has gotten in the way of the dream of living seaside – but Mr Cook says he wouldn’t change a thing.
“I have absolutely no regrets, Griffith has been a fantastic home for me for more than 30 years now,” he said.
“I started at Griffith East in 1990 and here I am 27-and-a-half years later. . .there was never any thought of mine to leave, it is a wonderful school and I have enjoyed watching it grow.
“It is an amazing school and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.”
The obvious love Mr Cook feels for his school was clearly reciprocated on Thursday afternoon as the Griffith East community farewelled him at a special assembly.
Lining the walls of the assembly hall were portraits of the beloved teacher, with farewell messages assuring Mr Cook he would be irreplaceable.
Students even appropriated their school creed into a special farewell for the charismatic teacher asking the school be a place of good grammar and where a love of Bruce Springsteen and sport could abide.
There aren’t many who could wrap up a 30 year career without being jaded, but on the eve of his final day of teaching Mr Cook was full of only praise for his tenure. “I have had a great career, I have been so lucky because the people I have worked with have been the best,” he said.
