Bob Anderson

August 3, 2010

He's celebrating his eighty-third birthday, but Dr. Robert A. Anderson wanted Putnam Rotarians to know today that, "There's still a lot of fire in the old furnace."

This, in spite of fifty years in education, including three as principal of Winfield High School (1957-1960).

"When I was principal at Winfield, we had 420 students in grades seven through twelve," he said. (That was in the then new building which is now the old Winfield Middle School.)

From 1962 to 1966, Anderson was principal in Florida at Brevard County's Cocoa High School with an enrollment of 2,400 students in grades 10-12. "More students in one school," said Anderson, "than in the whole of Putnam County at that time."

He was the first director of admissions for Brevard Community College. "When they opened up, they had 4,000 students -- evening and day -- in three buildings on one campus. When I retired, they had 22,000 students on four campuses."

Anderson started the first "early admissions" program at Brevard. "I found as a principal that students get lazy in their senior year if they have met all their requirements. It's best to have them challenged," he said.

"I would pick the very best students -- if they had a 3.5 (grade point average) or better." The seniors would then be challenged in an accelerated program where they could get credit for both high school and college.

There had been accelerated programs earlier, as far back as the '30s, but no high school credit was given nor diplomas awarded.

"Ten years after the program started," said Anderson, "I had 250 people go through the program, graduated with their AA (Associate in Arts) degree." Anderson went to the high school graduations. After a student received the high school diploma, he awarded them their AA degree (for two years of college work). "They got credit for three years of education in one, their senior year in high school and freshman and sophomore years in college.

"Leaving high school -- instead of going into the university as a freshman, they went as a junior."

The law in Florida required that all students be provided with twelve years of public education. "It took four years to get the law changed, but since 1974 the state has paid for all students in early admissions," for the tuition and books during what would otherwise be their senior year in high school.

"We have four universities in Florida with enrollments over 50,000. We have 300,000 students in community colleges. Without community colleges we wouldn't have room for them in the universities."

Anderson retired from Brevard in 2000 after eleven years as vice-president for student services.

But he continued a career in politics. "I served on the Rockledge (Florida) city council 20 years; I was on the Brevard school board for twelve years -- chairman for eight of those twelve.

"You don't get elected sitting still," he said.

Anderson was born in Winfield at home under the care of a midwife. "The doctor at Bancroft couldn't get across the river because the ferry didn't run at night. I was senior to my twin brother by twenty minutes.

"My dad was county court clerk for 38 years.

"Mother ran that restaurant at the foot of courthouse hill for 58 years. Quit at 89 because of a stroke. She lived to 98."

How does he sum up his professional years in high schools and college? "Don't ever let your studies interfere with your education," he joked, with a nod to hard work and common sense.

Anderson has been a Rotarian since 1966. A few more accolades: He is a "Paul Harris Fellow." He is a past president of the Cocoa Rotary Club (which meets on the Cocoa Campus of his Brevard Community College next to his Cocoa High School) and he is a recipient of Rotary's Distinguished Service Award.

And Dr. Bob Anderson has a perfect attendance record in Rotary of 43 years.