Interview with Daniel Shepherd – 2005 Daniel came to St David’s from Craighall primary and admits to finding it quite scary at first, seeing all the new faces and finding himself in a much larger better equipped school environment. He came together with ... »
Interview with Daniel Shepherd – 2005 Daniel came to St David’s from Craighall primary and admits to finding it quite scary at first, seeing all the new faces and finding himself in a much larger better equipped school environment. He came together with Kelsey Stewart and Ryan King so wasn’t entirely alone. He really enjoyed the Glenmore orientation camp in grade 8 led by Rod Smith and made new friends. Daniel recalled that his class of 22 pupils was quite extraordinary and they gained 88 out of 112 distinctions in their matric year. He enjoyed sport and played hockey for which he received half colours, played tennis and did some recreational swimming. Daniel believes that his life was much richer for the experience of meeting different people, through the sport which was compulsory he was forced to mix with people he otherwise would never have known giving him a different perspective of life. Daniel enjoyed assisting with the Science programme tutoring pupils from Alex high school and also participated in the Smile programme. He just missed being awarded an honours blazer for academics but was awarded half colours for hockey and service. The teachers he remembers are Reyno Reichert who really motivated all the boys to do well in Maths and in fact many of them eventually took 3 Maths subjects. Deanne King also helped him to do well in matric. He achieved 5 distinctions in matric, writing 8 subjects and then went on to Wits Medical School. He is currently doing a two year internship at Baragwanath Hospital. It’s hard work and very long hours but he is gaining experience in many disciplines which is invaluable. There are other St David’s boys with him such as Jonty Kourie, Matthew Barendse and Warren Meir. Kelsey Stewart (deputy head boy for 2005) is doing his internship in Pietermaritzburg. Daniel’s brother Michael is currently in grade 10 at St David’s. Daniel believes that if he has a son he would send him to St David’s or another Marist school. JE August 2012
