Fairmount Principal honoured for his values and courage
24 June 2022
MOT South Africa, a life-skills programme for young people, presented the “Are Hovstad Award” to Terence Klassen, the Principal of Fairmount Secondary School in Grassy Park.
Klassen was nominated by the 2021 winner of the award, Darren Maybe, for being an inspiration to many young people at Fairmount as well as the surrounding community and parents. Maybe wrote in his motivation that Klassen looked out for young people who other teachers and parents gave up on. “He always goes the extra mile to motivate them and encourage them to become better and bigger than their circumstances, to not give up and push through their adversities.
“Despite his own personal challenges, he still lives by his values and still decides to choose to offer a hand to the youth. He truly believes in the youth as the leaders of today and the generation that will take this nation to the next dimension.
He is a true inspiration and a big role model to all, and I am proud to nominate him.”
Klassen has been at the helm of Fairmount Secondary School for 22 years and he promoted aspects of the MOT programme to the school when it was introduced to South Africa in 2006. “I was taken in by the philosophy and immediately saw the value it could add to my students. I was hooked. I introduced aspects of the programme to my matriculants, with much success. I promoted the programme with our staff and soon we had a team of 12 educators willing to become facilitators and pioneer the MOT programme once they were qualified. I am proud of what MOT has grown into and what it will be!”
The award was established to honour Jarl Are Hovstad, a founding Board member of MOT SA who was knighted by HRH King Harald of Norway for his work in education and health on the Cape Flats.