Interviews With Ivan - Featuring Keith Swingle

Here is our first classmate spotlight! Check back every week for a refresher of some of our awesome classmates. If you wanna be our next spotlight email us at arlington2002reunion.gmail.com ....or we'll come find you!!

Thanks Keith! It was great catching up!

1. What are you doing now? These days, I am in the midst of a number of things, none of which are considered full-time work. During the last couple of school years, I’ve been substitute teaching. I earned my Masters in secondary education in social studies in 2008, taught abroad for a semester in Chile, and have since worked to become certified to teach English as well. During the summer, I’m the assistant director of Dutchess Arts Camp, a job I got while a sophomore at Arlington (thankfully, I’ve since been promoted from a counselor to an administrative role). In the interim, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to countries in four continents, and am currently also working with Evita Robinson (AHS class of ‘02) and her travel exploits at Nomadness, where we have recently begun a program called Passport To The City, which encourages students in New York City’s urban landscape to explore and learn about the wide array of cultures in NYC.
2. What plans do you have for the future? Three continents left to reach, and a whole lot of young Americans to hit with knowledge...
3. Weirdest job since graduating? I host trivia nights locally a few nights a week. It’s unusual, but I have a great time doing it. Anyone who’s around the area, make it happen.
4. Best job? I love what I’m doing now. The PTTC program in particular has been absolutely rewarding from day one.
5. Who have you kept in touch with? A great number of people, as a matter of fact. Beyond facebook, I’ve managed to maintain a close friendship with a lot of friends from Arlington. While many people I know have made more life-long friends in college, I’m blessed to have a steady core of great friends from high school.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat, near Siem Reap, Cambodia taken April 2011. Most majestic sight I've ever seen, which called for a classy jumping picture (featuring fellow AHS '02 alumni Matt Sefcik, Dan St. Onge, and Jay Beinstein).

At 5 Pointz in Queens, NY taken June 2012. This was taken the day of the Passport To The City project. Second from right is fellow AHS '02 alum Evita Robinson.

Along the coastline in Antofagasta, Chile in December 2009. I taught in Chile for a semester on a whim. 

Funniest post graduating story about someone else from high-school: I love to laugh. There have been dozens of times over the course of the last decade where I was in tears from laughing so hard. It’s what I do. To narrow stories down to just one, but here’s a recent one: a good number of friends were back in town for Christmas 2010. A number of us went out to the Road House in Pleasant Valley for a little reunion. While enjoying a drink or so, and enjoying whatever satellite radio station that was playing 90s hits (perfect for any reunion), those of us present were collectively awed and moved to shout (not sing) the lyrics to Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose” as it played at the bar. Immediately afterwards, we resumed whatever conversations/interactions we were having. True story.

Who from high school has passed away and what would you like to say in their memory? I do miss Sarah Studler. There are people whose energy feels almost tangible, and when that light is extinguished so prematurely, it is the height of sadness.

Did you marry your high-school sweet-heart? Or crush? Or crusher? No.

1. What did you study after high-school? I studied history and English in college, with the full intention of being able to teach both subjects. I pursued a Masters degree in education, and am close to realizing that dream.
2. What is the furthest from Poughkeepsie you’ve ever been? In the spring of 2011, I traveled to Southeast Asia with AHS ‘02 members Adam Cantor, Jason Beinstein, Matthew Sefcik, and Daniel St. Onge.
3. Have you ever kissed a teacher from AHS 1998-2002? Did you ever want to? No. This got risque rather quickly. I hope future survey-takers will also feel like they’re taking the old online surveys. I hope you’ll all take this and forward it to 15 of your friends by 11:49 p.m. on the date of the next full moon. If not, you’ll get crabs. Or something. *~~~*~*~* Anyone?
4. Who was the hottest teacher at AHS? As a colleague of a number of teachers at AHS, I’m professionally obliged to not answer this question.
5. If you had to give advice to someone graduating in 2012 – what would you say to do? And what to avoid doing? I tell seniors every time I teach them: Take chances. Don’t be an asshole and don’t hold grudges. Take advantage of youth....meaning their being young, not younger people.
6. What is the oddest place you’ve ever hooked up? A rooftop in Brooklyn overlooking New York Harbor.
7. What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you (which you dare tell us)? I’ve had the distinct displeasure of watching a number of inappropriate movies while in the presence of my mother over the years, which includes, but is not limited to: Risky Business (sex with a prostitute on a train), Hostel (European fuckfest), The General’s Daughter (rape scene), The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (rape scene), Titanic (13 years old, at the theater, staring at 20-foot tall breasts), and Basic Instinct (Yikes).
8. When you have stress dreams about high-school – what are they usually about? Alright, so I still have this dream to this day: I’m in high school all over again, and I’m consciously aware that I’m skipping my science class because I don’t want to go. This would be fine if I weren’t reliving the day that I actually decide to go to class, knowing full well that a major project is due, and I haven’t the faintest idea about it until I’m in the class. A different face from high school asks me what I’m going to do every time I have this dream. The answer is always “freak out, then wake up and realize you’ve been done with science for 11 years.”
9. If you could go to one new place, where would it be? Macchu Picchu, Peru. And it’s happening in the next year. That’s my goal.
10. How did you meet the love of your life – or how are you trying? Giving it the ol’ college try? It’s an awkwardly-phrased question for unmarried people. I imagine people who are interested in finding “the one” are dating. I’m dating a gal who I met through another Arlington friend. Poughkeepsie: City of Dreams.
11. Have you kept up any extracurricular activities (sports included) from high-school? I managed to be a part of a number of smaller theater projects throughout college, and had written a play before losing it to a crashed computer. Devastating.
12. What hobbies do you have? Writing and travel.
13. What’s your favorite way to spend the weekend? There’s no place in the world I’d rather be than my family’s summer home in Western New Jersey. It’s a short distance away, perfect for a weekend getaway.
14. What’s something else you’d like people to know about you? I am still very uptight around women I am or have ever been attracted to. I am not immune to worrying about sounding like Peter Brady (cracking voice), even though puberty has finally kicked in. That and I rarely wear shirts that aren’t solid colors. Broad people don’t do patterns well, typically.

And..... by the way! Keith WILL be at the reunion. Can't wait!