Published on March 9, 2021
Witnessing our past students return to the school as promising young educators is inspirational.
This year William Berry (21015) has returned to HVGS as a casual teacher teaching mathematics and sharing his love of learning with our Senior School students. Will shares more about his journey from student to teacher.
What inspired you to pursue a career in teaching?
Throughout my schooling, I was exposed to a variety of teachers through my involvement in music, sport, and other co-curricular programs. All of my teachers shared a passion for what it was that they were doing, as well as a love for helping others. When I began uni and found myself not enjoying the engineering course that I was enrolled in, I looked to what parts of my life I was enjoying so that I could figure out what I wanted to do. I was tutoring high school mathematics, and found that I enjoyed mathematics, and I really liked helping my students. There was my answer.
“If I wasn’t teaching I would likely go down a pathway of academia. I love learning and continuing to learn for the rest of my life sounds like a pretty good deal to me!”
Was there a teacher who inspired you at school?
I had many teachers contribute to the person that I am today, but none inspired me more than my mentor teacher Andrew Roberts. He was also my teacher for physics through my senior studies, so I was able to see him more than any other teacher. He shared his passions with us, and one fond memory that I have is our physics class being out late one night at the school rowing shed, watching stars.
Is there something that a student has taught you?
Students have taught me many things, but none better than to dream big. As a teacher, you are in a rare position to see each student’s unique potential. As a student, your whole life is ahead of you, so why not dream big? It is better to aim for the stars and hit a tree than aim for a tree and hit a rock.
What’s your big dream in life?
I enjoy refereeing and assisting in the development of other referees in our region. One highlight of my (young) career was being invited (twice) to coach youth referees at the AIS for the international tournament: Kanga Cup. Another would be my involvement as an assistant referee on a showcase game between Chinese superleague team Shenzen FC and Maitland FC. I am currently aspiring to join the panel of officials on the A-League, and so this would be my “big dream”.