Ms Cheryl Wright joined the Department of Civil Engineering at the Unversity of Cape Town in 1986 as a receptionist. The people you work with make the journey more memorable, as she is reminded of how she started her career at the same time as Prof Friedrich Scheele. Still, Mr Noor Hassen, the now Laboratory Manager, was already with the Department. “It says something that we have been at the Department for so long. I will miss Noor’s great sense of fun when he is not stressing about work!” she said with a smile. She has built great relationships with many of her colleagues over the years. As such, she will remember Prof Marianne Vanderschuren for her energy and numerous achievements and Mr Angus Rule’s brilliant sense of humour and always being willing to help. Also, “Prof Mark Alexander whose small scribbles and little notes everywhere were like a maze and a challenge to follow, in the days of typing from handwriting!” she chuckles.

Reflecting with fondness on the 36 years she spent with the Department, she recalls the origins of the Water Research Group (WRG). Professors Gerrit Marais, Dick Loewenthal and George Ekama were the founding members of the WRG. “Prof Gerrit Marais was a man with the most incredible memory who could tell you stories about anything and everything and did. Prof Dick Loewenthal, who became a really good friend whom I still miss to this day, had a brilliant mind and naughty sense of humour. Prof George Ekama, with his incredible record of research ratings, used to run up to varsity most mornings with those long legs of his, and I recall a succession ofpostgrad students,” she reminisces.

“The students have always been friendly, full of life and shown gratitude and appreciation,”

She has had the front row seat to watch the careers of many students who have built exceptional academic careers. “I recall Prof Alison Lewis as a student with very long hair;  Prof Hans Beushausen as a student in his orange overalls; Prof Denis Kalumba when he was a student of Prof Friedrich Scheele, and Mike de Kock with all his little gadgets for teaching,” she says warmly.

The thing that stands out the most in her career is the many students over the years who made her job at the Department more worthwhile. She derived immense inspiration and satisfaction from interacting with them and helping where she could. “The students have always been friendly, full of life and shown gratitude and appreciation,” she says warmly.

As she bids farewell to this significant chapter of her life, she looks forward to starting her new one at Betty’s Bay, where her creative opportunities are endless.