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School of Education

Trent Suzuki

1. Tell us a little about yourselfsuzuki headshot

I am a physical education teacher at Central Elementary in the Escondido Union School District, as well as a strength & conditioning coach for dozens of athletes at the middle, high school, college, and professional levels in all sports. I am happily married for 24 years to my wife Cammie. We have 4 children and 2 grandchildren.

2. What program(s) were you part of in SOE?

I was part of the physical education (the only one at the time) secondary credential program in the class of 2011.

3. What was something that you learned that you carry with you in your current position?

I learned that good teachers have to be exceptional at three things: 1) Know & understand your content inside & out; 2) Make your content enjoyable & accessible to your students; 3) Have a positive & meaningful class management structure firmly in place from the beginning.  From this invaluable information, I now teach a standards-based, assessment-rich, physical education program that my students enjoy & are proud to be a part of. We have developed a physical education program rich in culture that teaches life lessons, embedded with student servant leadership opportunities centered on kindness, enthusiasm, encouragement, & a championship mindset. 

4. What is a tip you would give to current students?

I would encourage all current students to not only work hard to understand how to make learning fun, exciting, & meaningful to their future students, but to more importantly,  discover the very best ways to make strong, loving connections with their future students so they know & understand how much they care about them & their opinions, as well as to continuously pique their burgeoning curiosity levels.  In other words, build culture, culture, culture, which will lead to students having buy-in to their classrooms.

5. What is something you recently accomplished?

Due to the excellent teaching/coaching techniques I learned at CSUSM, I was named the 2017 Escondido Elementary Education Association Teacher of the Year for Central Elementary, the 2019 San Diego CAHPERD Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the Year, and the 2020 California State CAHPERD Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the Year. 

6. What is something we might not know about you?

In addition to my physical education teaching career, & running my own strength & conditioning business, I recently was named the Chief Human Resources Officer for a social media app tech startup company.  I also help businesses & corporations with building team culture & leadership attributes.