WODONGA Middle Years College year 10 co-ordinator Michelle Heintze has been selected for what most would regard as the trip of a lifetime.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
She will be one of 14 teacher chaperones accompanying 80 Victorian students from years 9 to 12 to Gallipoli for the 100-year celebrations next year.
They will be at the dawn service at Anzac Cove on April 25.
Ms Heintze was the only teacher from the North East selected in the tour party.
But three students, Bradley O’Meara (Wangaratta High School), Maddison Talarico (Galen College, Wangaratta) and Sarah Hodge (Mount Beauty Secondary College), would also make the trip.
Ms Heintze, 30, was one of 120 applicants for the chaperone positions and 630 students applied for inclusion in the 80-member tour group.
The enormity and honour of being selected has left her somewhat stunned.
“It’s been one of those things. It has all hit at once,” she said yesterday.
Ms Heintze said she had no direct family connection with Gallipoli.
But her curiosity in attending came from a trip to East Timor last year where she went to the Dare Memorial.
It is about five kilometres south of Dili and is a private memorial to the people of East Timor, built by the Australian Forces that fought in Timor during World War II.
She said the experience of being there and the stories told were really powerful.
“That really stuck with me. I thought I will give it a go. You have to be in it to win it,” Ms Heintze said.
Since being told this week, she has bought a Turkish phrase book and audio CD to learn the language.
The students and chaperones making the trip were announced this week by Victorian Premier Denis Napthine.
He said it would be an incredible experience for the group.