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Before teaching high school, Bob had what many might consider a “dream job” - ice cream taster. While the technical term for the job is food technologist, Bob spent 22 years doing quality control (including tasting) for Nestle, Ralston Purina, and other companies. In addition to ice cream, his jobs included tasting tomato products, canned tuna, chocolate, and even pet foods.

“I ate a lot. I had to learn to pace myself.”

While the job sounds glamorous, Bob found it got tiring after a while and switched careers to teaching high school science. When he retired from teaching about three years ago, he wanted some part-time work and headed to Hollywood to work with the child stars! He got a special certification to teach kids who are actors to make sure they are getting the required number of school hours and looking after their welfare. He spends about one a day a week on the sets of movies or TV series like Crypt TV or Good Trouble and hopes to return after getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

Bob’s been married for 43 years and has 3 grown daughters. In his spare time, he enjoys making sourdough bread and his wife and him have started to make soap together that they hope to sell at the swap meets when those start to happen again.

Teaching his passions on GetSetUp

Bob brought his passion for sourdough bread baking to GetSetUp and now teaches Sourdough Bread Baking

“I started teaching Medicare, but then we got asked to submit classes we are interested in teaching. Since then, I have tried to focus on subjects I’m interested in and have more experience with. Most of the classes I teach now are classes I’ve suggested - ones I’m passionate and excited about!”

Bob can’t remember how GetSetUp first came across his path, perhaps on LinkedIn or in a Google search he believes.

“I like teaching and I missed doing it when things shut down at the start of this year. It was during this time I thought about teaching online. I could find Biology or Chemistry classes but I thought GetSetUp sounded more interesting. It allowed me to teach more fun subjects which I could pick. Plus the hours are great and since you can pick and choose the ones that work for you there is no real problem with scheduling.”

One of the parts that Bob enjoys most about GetSetUp is getting to meet new people from around the world.

“Once I had a whole class of Learners from India. It was fun! It’s always fun to meet people from around the country and hearing their experiences and the appreciation they have to be learning all these new things. People are very excited to be there.”

Both a learner and a Guide

Despite being the Guide of his classes, Bob recognizes that he has a lot to learn from participants as well.

“Adults have a lot to offer and a lot of experience. I try to get people to participate and ask to find out who has experience. I have a lot to learn and I’m not the ultimate expert in sourdough for example. I want Learners to know that I’m a Learner too and looking to expand my knowledge. I appreciate when Learners offer tips as they help my classes improve. Every class someone has information I didn’t have before that and I add it to class notes. It makes them better.”

One of Bob’s favorite classes is Explore Your Genealogy where he shows Learners how to do genealogy research, which is another hobby of his. In one such class, he showed a woman a free site to research genealogy. She was looking for information on her father and in the initial search a bunch of stuff came up.

“She got so excited and emotional. I was happy to be part of that discovery for her.”

Bob knows what it's like to find out unique information through genealogy as he located a half-sister that way that he never knew about. Also, he’s been able to trace back his lineage. He almost found an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower, but it turned out that his ancestor appears to have come over on the next boat after the Mayflower.

“Maybe he slept in that day, missed the boat, and caught the second one.”

Bob’s extensive experience in genealogy research means he teaches even experienced people some new tips and resources.

“People came in and didn’t know about resources. One lady came back and told me last week that after seeing the free site in my genealogy site before she knew it she had spent 7 hours on the site and found family from 100 years before. It’s great to give people that kind of experience.”

Bob loves to meet the different Learners who come from all over the world to explore the variety of classes he teaches and help them solve their problems.

“Some of the people are really curious and want to learn about all kinds of different things. It's always nice to be with people up for the challenge and willing to give it a try and be open to it.”

When you don’t find Bob in classes he might be rocking out playing classic rock on his keyboard, guitar or mandolin, or riding his electric bike. He’s even considering teaching a class about electric bikes. To learn more about where he’s thinking of traveling to next, his favorite tune to play, and his favorite ice cream he tasted you will have to attend the next time he hosts Get to Know Your Guide. Come find out a little bit more about the Guides leading your classes in these fun social hours!