Robert Barnes:  

I entered St. Augustine in 1957 after graduating from St. Thomas Aquinas elementary school, which was located in the Flatlands section of Flatbush. I was a pretty good student in most subjects, but was awful in math. (I remember I had to go to summer school for two summers so i could pass a couple of math subjects I had failed during the regular academic year). I was on the school's swimming team during my freshman year, but wasn't really very good at it, so I didn't stay on the team very long. Usually, also, I worked after school so I didn't have much time for team sports or clubs or whatever. I graduated in 1961 - although as I had been hospitalized with hepatitis a few weeks before graduation, I never actually attended the graduation ceremony. My family didn't have much money, so I couldn't go to college immediately after graduating from St. A's. So, i enlisted in the Army instead. I was in the Army for three years, assigned to various posts around the US, and I was one of the first soldiers sent to Vietnam. I spent about a year in Vietnam, assigned to a helicopter company. Then I came back to America and was discharged. After getting out of the Army, I enrolled in SUNY - New Paltz. I majored in Asian Studies and graduated from New Paltz in 1969. I then obtained a fellowship to study for a Masters degree at the University of Pittsburgh. My field of study was Economic and Social Development. I finished my classwork at the University of Pittsburgh in 1971, and then went off to work in Honduras, in Central America on an internship the university had arranged for me with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which is the U.S. government agency that administers the foreign aid program. I spent about 8 months in Honduras and that was the start of about 37 yea...Expand for more