Larry Lizik

When you love what you do, it makes all the difference in the world. Larry Lizek of Apollo Ridge High School knows all about that. Being able to work and live in the same community is what Larry loves about his job. He looks forward to being there for a while; in fact, he sees himself as a "permanent fixture" at the school. Besides the simplicity of loving to work where he lives, Larry "really likes" his job altogether. He said, "I wish I had done it before" and not spent so much of his time in another career.

The business world is where Larry landed after completing his education. He received his accounting degree from West Virginia University and soon after chose to get his MBA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His career then took him to Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh from 1990 to 1995. There he worked as a financial auditor for 2 ½ years and a financial analyst for the other 2 ½ years.

After five years in the banking world, he was tired of working in the city everyday, especially with all the rush hour traffic. He wanted something else. Many people in Larry's family are teachers and this piqued his interest in pursuing a career in education.

After a full day of work, many long nights were spent at Robert Morris College where he earned his teaching certification. All that was left to make it official was his student teaching. He decided to just go for it and quit his job to get it done. He spent half a school year with the Kiski Area School District working on this.

The Avonworth School District hired Larry for his first teaching position. He had the opportunity to substitute teach there for ½ a school term. His next position came from the Apollo Ridge School District, and he has been there eight years now teaching business courses. Mr. Lizek instructs several courses including, various computer applications, accounting, general business, and anything business related.

Larry's pride and joy is the digital yearbook that the school has published for the last three years. He assists the students in laying out everything on the computer using programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Page Maker. Every page is designed on the computer by a yearbook staff member. When the pages are completed, everything goes right to print from the files that are created at school. Larry loves taking advantage of the latest technology. He believes it gives the students more freedom in creating. Students actually get to use more photos by taking advantage of this format because it does not have to be laid out by hand and there are many great features in the individual programs.

When Larry first started working for Apollo Ridge, he coached three sports - volleyball, baseball, and basketball. Currently he only coaches track. He cut back when his two children came along. Fewer activities allows him to spend more time with his family. When he can fit it in, he enjoys fishing and golfing as well.

Larry believes in "making his classes as educational and as fun as possible" and he "never gives up on any kids."