MAKING MUSIC
Steve Shorten (Class of 1972) joined Mentone Grammar in second form (Year 8) after being granted a music scholarship. He proudly donned the colours of ‘School House’ founding a family tradition that both his brother and son would become part of.
Walking into his former school, Steve marvels at how unrecognisable the campus is from his day…’other than the fact that there’s still grass on the oval’. Like many Mentonians of his vintage he is orientated by the skeleton of the former science wing, now refurbished to become the Year 12 Study Centre. He reminisces about the ‘grey brick building’ which was seen as ‘très modern’ in his day.
WHO WERE SOME OF YOUR MOST INFLUENTIAL TEACHERS?
The former Chair of the School Board, Geoff Ryan, was one of my teachers back in his staff days. He was certainly a power in the commerce area. I learned a lot from him, and he was influential in channelling me towards a career in business. Mr Godsall was the music teacher, John Wyatt for Maths and coach of the First VI tennis team, which I was part of for 3 years, and who could forget Austin Ivy who taught history?
WHAT CAREER DID YOU PURSUE?
I actually ended up getting a junior traineeship after Year 12 at Ford Motor Company, and a place at Melbourne University. Some 40-odd years later at a football match at Keysborough, I bumped into Geoff Ryan and he said to me, “Where did you go after you were at Ford?” I was surprised that he could remember that from all the students that he would’ve taught over the years. That certainly is something. I went on to spend 40+ years in the business software industry, working in a variety of roles, in a number of countries around the world based for the most part in Melbourne.
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE MEMORIES?
There were a number, too many to mention here – sport, Shoreham, cadets, winning swimming for the umpteenth time, but one of my favourite memories, perhaps the wrong reason, was from back in my early years in learning Russian. We used to play charades, in Russian, and one of my mates used to do the same charade every time. He would walk up to the front of the class, open the window, jump out and not come back. The teacher was very confused while we’re all yelling out, “I’m going home,” (я иду домой, in Russian), because he never came back to class after he jumped out the window.
Sport was a big part of my life at Mentone Grammar, and in addition to being a member of the First VI tennis team, I was also a keen participant in both football and athletics. One of the features of the school was that enough teams were created to cater for everyone. This meant that students who probably would never have experience playing a team sport in their lives, were given this opportunity, for what I believe is an important life experience.
And, of course, back in the days of Keith Jones where having short hair was of paramount importance, they actually set up a real barber shop with a proper barber chair. Our last day at the school in year 12 was highlighted by our final assembly where we managed to move the barber’s chair onto the stage in the old hall, where I sat in the chair at the piano to play the hymn for that day, whilst wearing top hat and tails and a long-haired wig. Halfway through ‘Morning has broken’, Mr Jones proceeded to cut the wig with a strategically placed pair of scissors in his desk. Laughter all around (except my sister, whose wig was destroyed!).
