Sandra Roode completed her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology in 1989 at Pretoria University, focusing primarily on the daily challenges faced in formal workplaces, the factors that promote resilience and tenacity, and how these lead to a balanced lifestyle. She lectured in South Africa from 1994 to 2014, teaching both Psychology and Academic Literacy at institutions including Vista University, UNISA, the Tygerberg campus of Stellenbosch University, Boland College, and North-West University.
After earning a management diploma in the hospitality field, Sandra took on a new challenge at a Business Vocational College in Medinah, Saudi Arabia in 2015 till 2020. When the COVID-19 pandemic led to the evacuation of all foreign nationals over the age of 55, a new opportunity arose in Basra, Iraq. There, Sandra was appointed as the head of the Social Sciences department at a private school. For the first time in her life, she found that all the theories of resilience and tenacity she had studied could be put into practice. The post-war environment, the hopeful smiles of eager students, and the determined optimism of parents in a tough socio-economic climate invigorated her in these four years.
Since August 2025, Sandra has returned to Potchefstroom, where she now lectures part-time at North-West University in Academic Literacy. In her current role, she guides young researchers how to write formal assignments and start planning for research. Her resilience continues to be tested, this time through building ties again with family and friends, a series of home improvement and maintenance projects, editing her treasured antique furniture collection, and getting her tennis racket and golf clubs polished and ready for action.
