New executive head ready to take Penryn to greater heights

Ready to lead Penryn College to greater heights of excellence is its new executive head, Michael Eisen.

With an extensive and varied background and experience in both education and leadership, Eisen officially started as the new head last Monday July 24.
The Penryn Council’s chairperson, Shirley Moshikidi Mnisi, said Eisen has a deep knowledge of education, pastoral care, finance, marketing and diversity.
Coupled with his extensive local and international experience of leadership in schools, including working with the IEB, IB (International Baccalaureate) and the Cambridge curriculum, Eisen was the perfect candidate.

After graduating from high school in South Africa, he did his initial university training in biomedical chemistry at the Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. In his final year, he was approached by the dean of arts and sciences and asked to stay on as an adjunct professor. He lectured there for three years before working at the Environmental Protection Agency in the US for an additional two years.

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He then decided to move back home to Botswana and became a Cambridge educator in chemistry at Maru-a-Pula School for six years, where he was also the director of studies. He was the deputy head at Broadhurst Primary School in Botswana for seven years before moving to Northside Primary School, an international school in Botswana, as the deputy and acting head for three years. He then moved to South Africa in 2018, where he was the principal of Lebone II – College of the Royal Bafokeng outside Rustenburg before beginning as executive head at Penryn this year.

In addition to his undergraduate BSc degree, he also has a diploma in teaching, training and assessment, a postgraduate diploma in higher education as well as a master’s in arts educational leadership and a master’s in business administration.

“Penryn emulates the best international pedagogical practice and highlights the strengths of the learners in both sports and culture. One of the exciting developments is to develop a double cohort of graduates for both the international and local tertiary institution markets,” said Eisen.

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“It is really exciting. We are not just looking after the learners while they are in school, but also what they do after school. We invest in each child’s realistic life story.”

He said Penryn is the epitome of what the Lowveld community is all about; warm and welcoming and loaded with potential for the future. He said he was drawn to the school for several reasons, including its potential for development, the caliber of education and that the learners are both kind and ambitious.

“My passion for education stems from an intrinsic need to have a positive, real and lasting impact on society as a whole. I believe that each child is a unique individual who needs a secure, caring and stimulating environment in which to grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, physically and socially.

“Penryn is resolute, Penryn is strong.”
Eisen also has three of his children enrolled at Penryn, while his oldest son is studying towards a degree in a master’s of fine arts at Kent State University in Ohio.