About the Company

Computer Mania, established in 1991, is a privately-owned company specialising in quality IT hardware. CM will provide TT members with 5 deals every month. These are only available for TT members when placing an order via the dedicated email address, thinkteacher@computermania.co.za or when filling out our form on the TT website. Orders may be collected from ANY branch of Computer Mania (no charge) or delivered via courier for a reduced fee. TT members are welcome to browse our online store (www.computermania.co.za) for more products but must use the dedicated email address to place orders.

Biography

I started teaching at Ysterplaat Primary. Left teaching to do software installation at ESKOM and Mr Price Group. At the end of the contract I went to teach English for 3 years in Taiwan. Taught all ages, from 3 year old to adult. Returned to South Africa and began teaching at Bridge House in the Franschhoek valley. While here, I was selected as one of only 100 teachers world-wide to attend the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy in Huntsville, Alabama, the city where Werner von Braun and his German rocket scientists settled after WW2. It is here that the Saturn V moon rocket was developed and built. I attended the 2019 Space Educators Exploration Conference (SEEC) at Space Center Houston, official visitors’ center for Johnson Space Center, home of NASA’s Crew Operations. During SEEC I met the legendary Gene Krantz (“Failure is not an option!”) and Alan Stern, the man behind the New Horizons probe that is exploring our solar system and beyond. I also visited Mission Control for the ISS and could walk around and interact with the different flight controllers. The following year I was the first South African to be selected as part of SEEC Crew, a group of teachers from around the world collaborating on a space-related project. In 2020 I was awarded the Dr. Rochelle Abrams Space Across the Curriculum Educator Training Scholarship. I collaborated with teachers from England, Alabama, Colorado and Alaska in a week-long professional development program. I was awarded the scholarship again in 2021. As a result, I became the first South African to join The Space Foundation’s International Teacher Liaison Program. I left the teaching profession at the end of July 2021 and moved into retail, managing the Computer Mania store in Cape Town. In November 2021 I started managing the brand-new Computer Mania store in Stellenbosch. Since then Eikestad branch has become a top 10 store in the company, achieving 1st place for 6 consecutive months in 2022. We are also the 2nd biggest seller of Apple products within Computer Mania. I have been married to Adele, a Grade 4 teacher at Edgemead Primary School in Cape Town, for 32 years. We have one daughter, Stephanie, who works in the finance department at Computer Mania Head Office. We have two German Shepherd dogs, Bolt and Skye. I enjoy spending family time together, travelling, gardening and making furniture out of pallet wood.