Steve Ronowicz

Head of technology

Steve made a life-changing decision mid career to switch from automotive engineering to teaching technology 21 years ago.

“I was tired of scrabbling around underneath cars amidst the dirt and grease. A chance encounter with a teaching friend who loved his job and was most encouraging was all it took to set me off in a new direction,” remembers Steve.

Enrolling for teacher training was an easy decision for Steve as he would be using the skills he most enjoyed, his technical and coaching skills, in his new career. An added bonus was the Ministry of Education scholarship he received enabling him to leave his secure job.

Twenty one years later Steve feels as enthusiastic as ever about teaching technology. His success in motivating his senior students to develop products worthy of consideration for the commercial market was a factor in his being chosen as one of the two faces of TeachNZ’s new technology advertisements.

“I love going to work every day, being up to my armpits in workshop activities with 24 different students doing 24 different things.  It’s such a buzz,” says Steve. “It’s also a great thrill seeing students push their own boundaries and succeed.” 

Quite often a student is unaware of what they are capable of doing and Steve sees his job as helping them grow and take on challenges, a key to success in technology. “I often remind my students that the best achievements take genuine effort and persistence.”

One of the biggest challenges for his students is working with outside technologists to help develop their products.  “For a 16 year old to go out and interview clients, seek technical advice and maintain regular contact is a big thing, it’s a fantastic experience that sets them up for the future.”

Along the way to producing a fully operational product, his students have learned how to identify opportunities and generate ideas that may resolve them, write a brief, go out and talk to experts and in the best case scenario, how to apply a patent to their product at the end.  Steve’s major input is to critique the students’ ideas, help them with their selection process and to mentor them through the process.

While product development has become a major focus in technology, Steve still thinks it’s important to instil in his students that their project is not all about making money.  “They should always ask themselves – Should we actually make this? Will it be a socially useful environmentally friendly product?”

“I love the way technology allows my students to take on real world challenges. Their growth and success is motivating as a teacher and often brings a smile to my face.”