Robert Piekarski, Video Animation and Production Club

Rob has been involved in broadcast television since the age of 18, when he got his “break”. He was “discovered” at a gas station in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Not the typical place where you would think of a person showing off their talents in TV production. However a local news photographer, who stopped by to fuel up his news vehicle, saw a spark in a young high school senior with an interest in photography. From that spark a mentor relationship was developed that took a high school senior into a full-time job shooting news. At that point in history everything was still shot on 16 millimeter film. Rob learned how to shoot, process and edit 16 mm film in time for the 10 pm news. It wasn’t long until Sony announced the first professional, portable video cameras for broadcast and Rob was one of the first news photographers in the country to be shooting and editing video tape for a local news operation. The year was 1972 and that launched a 32 year career which continues today in the Distance Learning Department of Denver Public Schools.

Somewhere within his 32 year career Rob Piekarski attended both Purdue and Indiana Universities and majored in Radio, Television and Film Production. Also, within that 32 years Rob worked for;

• Purdue University as a supervisor in the Learning Resource Center and TV studio at the Fort Wayne Campus
• Chief engineer at an all volunteer public radio station
• Videographer, sound engineer, and editor for Rocky Mountain PBS in Denver
• Chief Videographer and Unit Manager for Jeppesen Sanderson during the production of a private pilot’s course
• Audio Visual Director of a large Religious Science church and school of theology in Lakewood, Colorado
• Owner of his own production company with many broadcast and corporate clients including the MacNeil Lehrer Newshour, NBC, ABC, CBS and the Japanese Television Network, Fuji Television

Rob even took a few years to learn about massage therapy and organic farming. He managed an organic asparagus farm and had a successful massage therapy practice for several years. Today Rob is the Broadcast Specialist for Denver Public Schools.