Former teacher Fred Newton has been awarded a life membership to the Tauranga Boys' College Old Boys' Association for his service to the school.
The 88-year-old taught and then led at the school for almost three decades starting in 1958.
Mr Newton, who had a general science degree, first taught the sciences with a passion for zoology and botany.
By the 1970s, he became the head of the biology department and then went on to be head of the science department.
During his time, he worked under four principals, including Garth Sim, Roger Barton, Norm Morris and Graham Young.
Initially, Mr Newton said he was not keen on the idea of teaching because of the teachers he had in his own school days.
"All my teachers in the secondary school were religious, they were priests, and they dressed funny and no way was I going to be like one of them."
However, the war intervened with his university progress when a professor asked him whether he had ever thought about teaching.
Mr Newton said the professor said to him he would get along with young people and provided a written testimonial on the spot.
So he thought he would give the profession a go, he said.
His first job was at a bushmill settlement out of Greymouth.
"I spent one term there on my own teaching maybe a dozen primary school kids of the bushmill workers and I loved it.
"I had all the natural sciences I knew about so I could go around dissection snails, worms and tress and hardly spent any time in the classroom."
After this he completed his teacher training college in Auckland then taught in Tolaga Bay on the East Coast.
"That's really were I learnt my teaching craft, I think, because there were three teachers, a husband and wife me, and about 80 kids."
The occasional "brilliant" student along the way made his job more memorable and rewarding.
"You didn't have to teach them, they just knew things," he said.
Mr Newton said one of the job's joys was he always kept in contact with his students.
"That is what teaching is all about, isn't it.
"I've had grown men come up to me with grey hair and asked me the difference between speed and velocity."
Tauranga Boys' College principal Robert Mangan said Mr Newton's 27-year milestone was an achievement.
The school currently had four other staff who had been serving for more than 30 years.
Life members include:
2009 - Garth Sim, Norman Morris, Graham Young
2010 - Max Heimann
2011 - Ron Buller & Rob Naumann
2012 - Graeme Anderson
2013 - Gillian Gemming
2014 - Fred Newton