Robert Kovacs:  

me feel like a first class person, not just a kid in her class. "Spiderlady" Stiles, I longed to have her for art and it wasn't until my senior year. I took art all four years of high school and it was her spirit, her "weirdo" side that captured my creative side and allowed me to express myself not only through various media but through written word with my art. SBHS provided me a lot of great building blocks, but these three individuals have had such a profound effect on who I am today. In a nutshell, "Work Harder to Play Harder" where the items that these three did for me!" College Much of my college (including graduate school) years were spent on the road commuting between classes, work and home. So I may not have the traditional views those of you who went away to school and experienced campus life. I however; had the fortune of having one great mentor, Youngkhill Lee, it was later in my education, so time was not on my side to know him long as a student. He opened my eyes to my profession from a research perspective which was different than my usual client or provider perspective as well as helped me develop a life long of learning and teaching others. Workplace Can you believe in July 2004 I celebrated 20 years of working for the YMCA??? Who would have had a wild guess that I'd still be hanging around??? I started their a month before we started our freshman year (1984) as a homework tutor for the kids in the after-school program and a CIT in camp. Over the years, I've been in Aquatics, Membership but spent a great deal in Child Care as a group leader (counselor), then a site supervisor then a program director over seeing sites. Now I am the Contract Compliance Director writing and overseeing a budget of nearly $8M in grants and contracts annually. I love what I do and can honestly say most of the time I enjoy my job tremendously. I have a great group of people I work with, like an extended family.