by john newton

students at savannah's windsor forest high school have called him “mr. c.” for years now, but popular language instructor, roman czerwinski, gained a new title recently when he was named windsor forest high school's teacher of the year for 2012.
czerwinski is originally from guadalajara, jalisco, mexico but has lived in the us since entering high school. his academic training includes a b.a. degree in history from ucla and his teaching certification from armstrong atlantic state university. he is currently working on his masters degree at the university of salamanca in spain.
when asked why he decided upon a teaching career, czerwinski refers to those who inspired his quest for knowledge.
“ like many people i admired my own teachers, “ czerwinski said. “i wanted to impact people in a way that they could be challenged. teaching is a great profession. it is exciting to see my students' reactions when they have mastered a concept or an idea.”
as the chair of the world languages department at windsor forest h.s. and faculty sponsor of the spanish honor society, czerwinski enjoys sharing his love for the spanish language.
“the cesar chavez spanish honor society allows the best students in the subject to experience a variety of activities in which they can impact the local and global community,” czerwinski said. “the officers plan different meaningful activities for the students ranging from authentic movies to field trips abroad. in 2009 some students went to spain and this year we went to st. augustine, florida. last year the students donated 25 large boxes of clothes for the haiti relief and they also gave money to haiti's red cross. this year they donated the same number of boxes for our migrant worker's community and they will be donating money to build water wells in africa. students have to be selected to be initiated into the society and it is an opportunity for me to bring the world to my students.”
czerwinski has no doubts about the future benefits that students will derive from learning to speak spanish.
“spanish is the dominant second language in the united states,” he said. “more people speak spanish in the us than in argentina! our local students are noticing that more and more latinos are calling georgia home. the smart ones are making an effort to learn spanish to get ahead. being bilingual is already a requirement for many jobs, especially in the northeast, southwest and the west coast. soon georgia will struggle to fill many job openings that have a need for people that are fluent in spanish. in addition, knowing spanish opens a whole new culture for our students.”
savannah is very fortunate to have dedicated men like roman czerwinski teaching in its public schools and windsor forest high school is to be congratulated for recognizing the special talents of this latino educator.