Despite competing professionally as a basketball player for the Sydney Kings, Dejan Vasiljevic has never never forgotten where he came from.
The 25-year-old recently returned to his former school, Good News Lutheran College in Tarneit to donate jackets, numerous sporting goods and a signed jersey.
Vasiljevic said he was trying to do everything he could to give back.
“I went to school there in year five and six and that’s kinda when I started playing basketball so we just felt like … going back there it held a lot of significance,” he said.
“You never forget where you started … my mum always says ‘be nice to people, give back, eventually it helps you over the long run’.”
Good News Lutheran College principal Fiona McAuliffe said she was “very proud” of Vasiljevic .
“When I got to walk him around the school the other day … the look on his face as he talked about the tiny little basketball court that we have near our junior classrooms [and] as he remembers ‘this is the court that I played my first basketball, this is where i learned my passion for basketball’,” she said.
Ms McAuliffe said the items Mr Vasiljevic donated will be auctioned to raise money that will be used to help support student’s wellbeing.
“We want to build a reflection garden with a labyrinth in it … we want to have a space where we can bring students in and we can do some activities that will help them think,” she said.
Fatima Halloum
