Flashback Friday

Where I started - one of the originals

My name is Dan Luzinsky and I am an original graduate from Cecil Hills High School. I started my high schooling days in 1997 and graduated as School Captain in 2002.  I was in the second year group to start at Cecil Hills High School, and it was a great experience seeing the school develop and grow as we did along with it. There were no seniors in Year 12 looking over our shoulders or huge lines at the canteen when I started school, just a young group of students preoccupied with their yoyos and Tamagotchi’s, and as we got older we became more preoccupied with getting the latest flip phones and mobile phones with voice activated calls and brand new colour screens; but we had to be careful not to send too many SMS messages, each message was like 10 cents each and once you used up your 10 free messages per month you had to pay!  Ha-ha good times. 

Career path journey

While in school I had different interests for my future career. I always considered something in the technologies field or architectural design, however, I also considered teaching as a possible career choice as I would still be able to focus on my own interests - just with a different avenue. An opportunity arose when I applied for a Department of Education and Training (DET at the time) scholarship program. I was fortunate enough to have been successful in the application to Western Sydney University and I really enjoyed learning about and coming to appreciate the teaching profession so much more. 

After university I started to enjoy travelling. I always wanted to see different places, exotic locales, and majestic views from around the world. I had the pleasure of experiencing this 

in Europe in the snowy winter. In New Zealand, Queenstown where I tried Heli Skiing; the USA where I got to visit the West coast including Alcatraz Island in San Francisco to the East coast bustling metropolis of New York city and of course Disneyland!  My love of travel changed for the better after I met my beautiful wife, a fellow teacher who also shares the love of travel. 

For our honeymoon we visited some of the most romantic locales in Europe from Paris, Rome, Tuscany, Czech Republic and even driving through the UK to see the famous Stonehenge site and explore the wonderful Lakes district. I Loved Japan, where we got to meet its people and explore its history. I was able to visit some of my family in South America, even take my wife on a detour on the Inca Trail to reach the ancient city of Machu Picchu in Peru.  

Fifteen years later I am still teaching and loving it. 

My favourite school memories

One thing I will never forget was in Year 12, when I became school captain, I really enjoyed the opportunity to represent Cecil Hills High School in school assemblies, going to the Opera House to meet other school captains from around Sydney, and of course representing the school in sport! I really loved my sport at school, and I believe it was in Year 11 where I think I had competed in almost every single sport you could think of. I remember our senior touch football team were so amped after the competition had ended, we kept looking for a team to play in and we all chose Netball! We became Cecil Hills High School's very first boys netball team. But the funny thing was we were all touch footy players and never played netball in our lives. Every pass was a torpedo, over the shoulder pass and some fancy footwork thrown in to score those crucial points!   And... we lost our first and final game in the knockout, but we all had fun and enjoyed being out there. That was one of the best things about Cecil Hills High School - we were encouraged to have fun whenever possible but also to be sportsmanlike and respectful. 

I remember my first teaching practicum experience was at Cecil Hills High School. It was like a reunion with all my past teachers and was great to see the school grow and evolve. Despite working with my past teachers in and out of the classroom, I still could not call them by their first names. I kept calling them Sir and Miss (I still do actually! ) But I learnt so much about the teaching profession through their examples and suggestions. Some of my greatest achievements in life come from my relationships with those around me. From developing strong professional relationships with my colleagues across various Sydney schools, developing a positive rapport with all of my students, and making some lifelong friends who love teaching as a profession and appreciate the difference it makes.  I have also enjoyed participating in many educational projects to support student learning including the UTS Summer program for Year 10 students, joint school film projects with local PCYC’s and working with NESA as a HSC marker for almost a decade supporting the important work of marking students' major projects.  I look forward in continuing to develop and evolve as an educator. 

Congratulations

I've enjoyed seeing how Cecil Hills High School has grown and developed over the years. It makes me proud to see my old school continue to thrive and make a positive impact on our students, and I look forward to seeing what future developments may come. I would like to congratulate Cecil Hills High School on their 25th anniversary. 

Dan Luzinsky

Graduating Class of 2002