Exclusive interview: Mr Hillebrand

Recently, we as Phocus team browbeat convinced Mr Hillebrand into handing over a chunk of his day for us to barrage him with questions. Here below is the–to my knowledge–first ever exclusive interview with Mr Hillebrand.

Note: Many of the quotes are paraphrased for conciseness, however the intention remains.

1. Do you have any advice for the Year 11’s now that they’ve started their AS course?

He recommends, “Start working now, and concentrate in class.”, further to “find something that you enjoy in everything”. As an example of this: he never greatly enjoyed Afrikaans in school, and when told he would have to read and summerise a page of an Afrikaans book each day, he started learning about Afrikaans history, which, despite the language medium, was something he enjoyed. Finding something he enjoyed within something he didn’t, motivated him.

2. Do you have any quotes, and you can quote yourself, that you find motivational?

“Begin with the end in mind.”

– Stephen Covey

Whom–as very casually mentioned–Sir has met! Apparently he is a short man with an “unremarkable” handshake. Mr Hillebrand then adds:

“100% is the baseline for improvement” 

– Mr Hillebrand

3. How did you cope as school became more stressful?

School became less stressful with time, he credits this mostly “getting into the rhythm of things”. He notes that, “Not everyone learns in the same way- find things that work for you.”, and that “Slavishly taking notes, that detract from your concentration, might not be the best thing.”. He adds, “Maybe you need to take briefer notes… not necessarily writing down every word that is said.”.  

His favourite subject was science, although he enjoyed all of them.

4. What is the craziest story you can remember from your school years?

“I did a lot of photography, and wanted to do Sepia toned photographs. I went to the chemistry teacher to get the ingredients to do so.. among which was potassium ferricyanide, enough of it to kill the entire school.”  His chemistry teacher–who he knew very well–, failed to mention the extreme toxicity of the substance, which he only found out about months later. He finally disposed of the stuff when he switched to a school with proper disposal measures. Closing this he says, “The photos went well!”.

5. What is your one piece of life advice for us?

“Do not attribute malice where ignorance will suffice”. Don’t assume that people are being intentionally malicious, when 9 times out of 10 they simply don’t know any better.  

6. If you could change your career path right now, would you? If you would, what would you do?

“Retire.” When asked why he teaches he said, “I get paid to mess with your mind. You guys have to sit still and listen to me, that’s not true of my family.” Contrary to popular belief, Mr H actually enjoys teaching comp-sci.

7. What is one fun fact that no one would be able to guess about you?

He once played (alto) saxophone at a funeral. The woman who had died had wanted it to be a celebration of her life, and in Mr H’s own words, “I was not aware you could play sad stuff on an alto sax.”. 

He also enjoys making flutes out of the reeds on most camps he attends. So much so that the staff at Bonamanzi (The year 10 camp location on the Breede river), get him the tools he needs without him even needing to ask. 

8. What is your favourite animal?

His three year old Border Collie, Flex, who apparently does not like little old ladies – barks at them viciously (the word ‘ballistic’ was used). He has reportedly since been to remedial puppy school, and is a very smart dog.

Utterly unrelated, cauliflower is good with white sauce specifically. Our interviewers were then treated to a song about said cauliflowers, as well as vinegar.

A big thank you to Mr Hillebrand for his time, patience, thoughtful replies, and of course, singing.

Interviewed by: Angelina, Kristen

Written by: Quinn