On November 28, Yass High School teacher Tracey Bills was awarded a NSW combined High School sport Gold Life Membership following her years of commitment to CHS touch football as a coach and athletics as an official.
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“It’s a great honour, obviously, and very humbling,” Ms Bills said of the membership.
Ms Bills, who has worked at Yass High since 1987, has spent roughly the last 25 years deeply involved in the sports department of the school.
Over the course of this time, she has worked with many students, both from the school and interstate, and considers that the most rewarding aspect of her job.
“You get to meet not only the kids here, but you get to work with kids all throughout the state,” Ms Bills said.
“That’s what you always hope to do as a teacher, you want to guide kids to make good choices and things like that.”
Ms Bills began teaching a year before she came to Yass High School, but prior to university had never really thought about becoming a teacher and came across the field quite by accident.
“It was just something that I sort of fell into. I wouldn’t say it was something that I wanted to do at school, but I’m very glad that I did do it, in hindsight,” Ms Bills said.
She studied at Lismore, her hometown on the Central Coast of NSW, before moving to Wagga Wagga in 1986 to teach.
A year later, she moved to Yass to begin work at Yass High, and said that the students and the school are “great”.
“I’ve been here for 30 years, I think that speaks volumes to the calibre of kids that come through this school,” she said.
Ms Bills also played down her role in the success of the school’s touch football teams over the years, which she said was largely down to the passion of the children under her tutelage.
“We’ve had a lot of success here for a small school,” she said.
“We’ve had a lot of state rep[resentative]s and things like that, and it’s basically because our kids are willing to have a go and try things rather than worry about the consequences of trying and not succeeding.”
The announcement of Ms Bills’ membership also drew praise from other staff at the school.
Sandra Hiscock, the former Principal of Yass High, retweeted the announcement, and said “Tracey is a truly amazing person. Yass High School is so lucky to have her on board.”
Although Ms Bills has taught at the school for 30 years, she is undecided on how much longer she will continue.
“I’ll always be involved in sport in some way,” she said.
“What that looks like in two, or three, or four, or five years’ time … I always like to leave things in good hands, which I think I’ve done.”
