Sam Quinlan, Class of 2005
From Mount Evelyn to Chiang Mai
Recently Sam reached out to us to share what he’s been up to since graduating from MECS in 2005.
If you want to share what you’ve been up to, please reach out to us at reconnect@mecs.vic.edu.au.
From graduating MECS in 2005 and throughout my 20s, life was quite mix of things, including but not limited to:
Living in sharehouses and community with some of my closest friends (which I thoroughly recommend)
Completing a Bachelor of Music and a very generalist Bachelor of Arts/ Humanities (which I’d recommend only to some!)
Involving myself in various expressions of activism/ volunteering/ advocacy/ direct action, most for anti-militarism, pro-refugee, and anti-trafficking causes
Creating some special music in a band called Enlight (progressive rock), in Tim Coghill’s rare but incredible concerts (modern classical/ cinematic), and as a solo acoustic act (even more rarely, and not nearly as incredible).
A supporting all this with lots of random work, particularly in sign factories. Yep, those two degree choices qualified me perfectly for factory work.
Then in 2019 I moved to Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, to teach English. While it wasn’t a sudden decision, it was quite a random one, but it’s worked rather well for me and I’m still here. I teach at a language institute, as opposed to a standard school. The courses come and go, and I suppose I’m effectively trading stability for diversity. I love working here, the other teachers and the staff are wonderful people. I’ve predominantly taught Thai students of all ages (sometimes in standard schools), Chinese adults, and Japanese exchange students. As a teacher now, I frequently find myself interacting with students and navigating classroom situations in similar ways to how my MECS teachers would have, and thinking “ha, thanks for the inspiration”. And this job has obviously given me a much deeper appreciation of the challenges they faced (but never faced because of me, of course!)
I’m just as grateful for MECS now as I was during my time there, and in some ways I look back and appreciate it even more now as I get older. So many of my teachers had such a profound influence on the way I approach life.
Their character, intelligence, and wisdom were huge gifts to me during those crucial years and have followed me everywhere since. I could on and on about MECS, it really is a special place.
