Catching up with Andrew Oppenheim

One of my early connections with Foundation Studies was attending rehearsals in the former kindergarten, tucked away facing Tin Alley, that served as the students’ recreation room. In its place now is the light-filled and spacious Gateway building that has opened up the campus and is the base for the February Main and Fast Track programs. I’d encourage former students to visit and see the change for themselves. The rehearsals, incidentally, were for the Chinese Music Group, which also still thrives.

After a few years of lecturing Mathematics 1 in the February Main, I’ve returned to working with the August Early Entry intake, which now is called the August Comprehensive and has grown such that it nearly fills the campus we have opposite the Victoria Market. One of the best things about this building for Mathematics is that there are several whiteboards in each room. Students can try out their own mathematical ideas and also can walk around and discuss them with others, so we have lively classroom. (And one that does get a bit messy – it’s been repainted twice already.) I’ve also enjoyed the challenge of seeking other ways to improve the conditions for learning that we offer to students, such as putting an aisle in a lecture theatre or ensuring that a group of students has a common time free on their timetable. 

My escape from work is playing the violin in one of Melbourne’s community orchestras. Each year we perform about fifteen pieces of music, and so have the opportunity to look in detail at pieces we’ve heard before in concert halls or on radio. In my holidays at the end of the northern winter, I’ve had many days’ walking on the trails in Hong Kong, have seen the start of spring on the Kunisaki and Kii peninsulas in Japan and have begun to explore Taiwan.