Try everything at least once!
Look, let’s be honest, I was never going to be a Prefect, or a leader at school. My years at Kloof (1998-2002) must have given a good number of teachers grey hairs and rightfully so. A good education, from a decent school surrounded by loads of opportunities, is something you either take advantage of during your school years or perhaps a little later on in life. Mine was the latter.
KHS set me up for a life that I am lucky enough to have experienced and enjoyed. The various Head Prefects guided our years and if I am not mistaken, I believe 1998 was the final year of the dreaded pet rock for Grade 8s! I fondly remember the teachings of Mr. Holding, his love of History has remained with me to this very day. Hell, one day, upon yet another detention sentencing, he chose to give me ‘Mein Kampf’ to read during my detention hours, it was a great fit into the syllabus of world history, but I swore never to return to detention ever again. We had some incredible students at the time, some have sadly passed away, some have made incredible discoveries and some have led simple but inspiring lives, with many young versions of themselves no doubt ready to soon follow in the footsteps of their parents down the corridors of KHS.
Post-school I attended UKZN, graduating with a Degree in Media and Communications, with a secondary major in English. (This must have destroyed my English teachers as I was terrible at school English!) During that time I picked up the martial art of Taekwon-Do and would go on to earn my 2nd Dan Black Belt and gain my SA Protea Colours twice. I competed at World Champs in Russia and then in England where I was lucky enough to podium twice, claiming the record of the only Male Adult South African to win an individual place in the Power Breaking category along with team Power Breaking at the UK hosted event.
Taekwon-Do gave me the chance to travel the world and compete, which I did several times!
Aside from martial arts, I returned to the Highway area after studies and joined the Highway Mail as a Journalist, serving at the paper for nearly 5 years (gaining several Caxton news photographer of the year and newspaper of the year nominations) before being invited by a local radio station to start up a Drive show as a producer. The year I finished at the paper is ironically the year our team won Newspaper of the year! I remained at East Coast Radio for 8 years and again, luckily enough, receiving 19 SA Radio award nominations and winning 3.
I should have perhaps continued with Drama at University (I only studied it for one year, as one does) because I ended up having some luck on television too. After being one of several hosts of the International sports show ‘Trace Sports’ on DSTV’s Trace Channel, I had another stint on a historical documentary entitled ‘Your People, My People’ broadcast on the History Channel on DSTV.
Along the journey, I have met some interesting people, like Trevor Noah.
The Top Gear team stood out as a highlight of my work – (Including a ride with the Stig!)
I have been lucky enough to feature on a few International shows like Trace Sports. I was also given the opportunity to star in a documentary on the History Channel entitled ‘Your People My People’.
I have found a deep passion for wildlife and especially birding over the years and currently host the Garden Game Ranger Group on Facebook, encouraging others to enjoy and celebrate the wildlife in their own backyards as we remain more at home thanks to the pandemic.
I currently work as a Marketing Communications Liaison for Boxer Superstores where the love of community and the ever endearing stories of Ubuntu rule my day, as I create content based around the many tales the supermarket’s 300 stores tell. It’s a fantastic job, the culture in the business is wholesome and besides, who doesn’t like writing about the good things people do? It seems as if writing has always remained within me and I am pretty sure that it all stemmed from the learnings I first received as a short little lippy Grade 8 who sat in that magnificent Hall back in the early months of 1998. I don’t believe that I have anything remarkable or life-changing, but I have enjoyed the ride so far and I hope that somewhere along the way I have managed to do something which has positively impacted another person, an ethic instilled in me by both my parents and the school which guided me through my teen years.
Jason McCall
Class of 2002
