James Kozlowski can now count himself amongst the special few to attend Harvard University - and he's got the photos to prove it.
The principal from Endeavour Sports High School in Sydney's south was one of four school leaders to receive this year's prestigious Public Education Foundation scholarship, offered in partnership with the Harvard Club of Australia.
Winning nominees undertook a fully-funded leadership program at Harvard's Principals' Center, run within the Graduate School of Education.
Some 150 school leaders from a dozen countries were chosen to attend this year's program, and Kozlowski says the opportunity to meet his counterparts from around the globe was "truly inspiring".
"I was rubbing shoulders with teachers from the private system, the independent system, primary school, high school, a Jewish day school to a comprehensive school from Texas - there was such a depth and breadth," he says.
Titled 'Improving Schools: The Art of Leadership', the six-day course gave early-career school leaders the opportunity to "reflect on their practice, expand their skills, and become more effective leaders of instructional change".
"It was very much focused on where your school is at. How do you generate improvement, maintain improvement or build on that improvement so it's greater than what it already is?" Kozlowski says.
The principal knows a little about generating improvement; his success in leading change at his own school was a key reason behind his successful nomination.
Jumping into his first substantive role as leader in 2015, Kozlowski made it a mission to turn his school's fortunes around.
"Back in 2014 [Endeavour Sports High] was in a bit of a decline. Student numbers had fallen year on year, for a number of years, and we had our smallest intake of Year 7s," he says.
As a designated sports high school, Endeavour was struggling with a reputation for focusing on the athletic at the expense of the academic, even if that reputation might have been unwarranted.
"Ninety-nine per cent of what we do happens in the classroom ... But, of course, perceptions can sometimes result in reality, and we were finding that many parents were reluctant to send their kids to our school."
Kozlowski and his team met the challenge head-on, and, to mix a metaphor, they picked themselves up off the mat to kick some stunning goals - on the field and in the classroom.
The school decided to implement a high expectations policy, where students must demonstrate exemplary attendance, behaviour and grades if they are to participate in sporting programs.
"That was really a game-changer for us, because it turned on its head the idea that, if the kids are here for sport, then that was going to be a disincentive for them to be academic," Kozlowski says.
"We've said that academic performance comes first, and, in fact, if you can't demonstrate a commitment to your learning, you'll be withdrawn from your sport and other activities outside of the classroom."
The turnaround has been dramatic. From struggling to attract new students, the school is now turning them away.
"We've grown across the school by 25 per cent and we've actually doubled our Year 7 and 8 cohort in three years," Kozlowski says.
And from a relatively poor academic showing, the school went on to record its highest ever NAPLAN score in 2017.
That's not to say that Endeavour isn't excelling athletically either.
The school now offers specialisation in 14 sports and has secured training partnerships with a number of professional sporting teams, including the Sydney Swans and the Cronulla Sharks.
And while progress has been dramatic, the principal says it hasn't been without its challenges, the biggest being trying to convince others "how good the school could be".
"I knew what we could be, I knew the potential of the school, but it was about being able to convince others of that potential."
Armed with new insights from his time abroad, Kozlowski says there's still work to be done.
"I know that the entire school will benefit from my experience [and] I already have plans to implement what I have learned at Harvard."
