Anthony Rich-My Story
Written very late one night
Written very late one night
My father was born in England, raised in South Africa and met my mother in Australia. I was born in Camberra, Australia and we came to New York in about 1974. We lived in "The Ridge" section of White Plains, NY until about 1978 when my parent separated. Hobbies have always been a part of my life. I recently read an article that said if you find a child with many hobbies you can find a mother or father with a love of hobbies nearby. This is the truth. My father loved to tinker and his father loved to tinker. They loved cars and anything mechanical. I can remember very early my father working on his Citroens. He loved those cars. We had slot cars in the basement, model trains, model airplanes etc. As an adult now I don't think they were really for me but I did get to play with them sometimes. My favorite toy growing up was my LEGO set. I must have played with them everyday. When my parents separated and my mother took us back to Australia I can specifically remember that the one thing I would not leave behind was my Lego collection.
We only stayed in Australia for a short while. In the year after my father had left ,my mom had met a someone before leaving for Australia. After a lot of snail mail correspondence Harry (dad) traveled to Australia and asked for my mother's hand in marriage with two kids in tow. We packed up again and guess what came along in my suitcase? My Legos. I was eight when we moved back to NY. I met new friends who were very similar to me. They loved bike riding but best of all they too had Legos and we would get together every afternoon to build, NEVER mixing our pieces of course. For special holidays we would ask for one thing and one thing only, more Legos. For a number of years we enjoyed our Legos until we discovered something even more exciting.
Elmsford Raceway slotcar track was a staple in our area. Every child went there at one point or another. Birthday parties were big at Elmsford Raceway. I had one there and just about every friend did the same. I'm not sure when I saw my first radio controlled car at Elmsford Raceway. They had a large glass case which was loaded with beautiful cars that were like nothing we had ever seen. We all wanted one. I remember very clearly that my mom bought me the Tamiya RC catalogue and a copy of an RC magazine. I read those books cover to cover hundreds of times and became an "expert" in the hobby. My best friend down the street, Brandon Prendergast, became equally interested in RC cars. We knew they are expensive and didn't get our hopes up but we both asked for a Tamiya Super Champ anyway. Christmas morning, I was shocked to find several large boxes under the tree with my name on them. I didn't wait for the traditional passing of the gifts, I knew what was covered by this overly festive paper. I tore the boxes open to behold the Super Champ. A 1/10 scale replica of a Baja buggy with realistic suspension modeled after a Volkswagen bug.
The story is told by my mom and dad that I took those boxes into the basement and emerged briefly for food, water and limited sleep. About 4 days later I emerged with the finished product not before having to ask my friend Brandon's dad how to build the shocks. It was complete and I had built it on my own, except for the oil filled shocks. We drove our cars together for hours, stopping only for battery charges. For the rest of our holiday vacation we drove our cars from dawn to dusk and then cleaned them to new condition in the evening. It wasn't until the first car broke that I realized how important it was that I had built my own car. I could tear my car apart and rebuild any component with ease while my friend was not as comfortable. You see, his dad had built his car and Brandon had not truly learned how the car was put together. Brandon was able to repair his car so he could continue driving while I loved actually working on the cars. We eventually got other cars. I even built one in a hospital bed during an extended stay for an operation. For years those "toy" cars provided us with thousands hours of enjoyment and kept us out of trouble.
A 1973 Buick was my first car and a 1970 Pontiac GTO was my second. It was not until I was an adult that I realized the effect hobbies had on my intellectual development. I tore those cars apart with no fear. The GTO went through a restoration and was sold to purchase a German, early mid life crisis, car. Today I have no fear of projects. I built the home that I live in, general contracting some of the work and completing the rest on my own. I have taken on massive landscaping projects, finished my basement, built computers, stone walls, installed kitchens, etc. I'm not afraid of anything. BUT, there is one common thread between all of these. Reading and hands on. That first Tamiya catalog I got opened my world to RC cars and everything that I tackle as an adult I immerse myself in first through magazines, books and internet sites.
I became a teacher in 1994 after studying education at Pace University and Iona College. I didn't always want to be a teacher. In HS I has excelled in accounting and math and entered the Lubin School of Business to study accounting. I lost interest in the first month. I worked two jobs through college. I worked for tuition at my dad's frozen foods business, Seabergh's, in White Plains and worked for spending money as the director of the Bear's Den youth Center in Briarcliff. Enjoying my work with children I thought I might try one education course before submitting to working for my father for the rest of my life.
I was hooked and raised my GPA from (I'd rather not say) to a respectable but not stellar 3.1 by graduation. I redeemed myself with a 3.93 in graduate school. My first teaching job was in Croton on the Hudson where I worked for one year as a third grade teacher. I resigned from Croton to take another third grade job in Eastchester where I have been since 1995. I worked as a second and third grade teacher until 2005 when I was appointed Technology Integration Specialist for grade K-5. Simply stated I am a technology staff developer for the teachers in my school district.
I started looking for summer camp work after my first year of teaching. I was recommended by a friend to teach some courses at a camp in Southern Westchester. The first year I taught a Kitchen Chemistry for kindergarten through second grade students. I began to gain a following immediately as my classes were filled the following year. I created new classes such as the Come Fly Away-The Study of Flight, A Look at the Rainforest, and finally I took over the rocketry program. I researched curricula with the National Rocketry Association, Estes Rockets and any other sources I could find. I developed a new program that was not only educationally sound but also fun and competitive. Classes were again full and the program flourished enough to introduce Advanced Rocketry.
After teaching for about 5 years I came up with the idea of starting a radio controlled car class. I pulled those old cars out of the attic and did a demonstration. Unbelievably those old Tamiya cars still ran perfectly. The whole camp went crazy! The kids had never seen anything like these. I worked out a price and made the proposal to the director. The first year the class filled about 3/4. I did many demonstrations to promote my class. Within two years my classes were full and there was a one year waiting list to get in. My classes were actually attracting new students to the camp.
With two successful rocketry programs and the radio control car program busting at the seams I set about creating a new program with the help of Joe Anderson at Tamiya America. This was the first time that Tamiya was made aware of my programs. We discussed adding their Mini 4WD program to my lineup. They sent a few samples and a track for us to "play" with. I researched deeply the Mini 4WD hobby and discovered that there was quite a bit of science behind the sport. The key skill hidden in the program was variables. Children needed to change variables to vary the performance of the cars. I loved the educational aspects of the class and set to make it a prerequisite to the radio control car program. The classes filled the year I introduced them.
After the success of these three programs you would think that the hobbyshop that supplied me would have done anything to keep our business. I worked very hard preparing detailed orders for the shop and would have my lists in at least six weeks before the opening of camp. Over the years our relationship was great. The hobbyshop supplied me with a great deal of materials and threw in a few extra toys for the teacher. After the shop burned to the ground in White Plains and the owner relocated 60 miles away things were never the same. Materials arrived late, deliveries were not as frequent and worst of all one year I had no materials to teach with on the first day of camp. I came to discover that the shop owner did not want use credit to purchase the supplies and ordered everything at the last minute. I realized that this was a great deal of money for the shop owner but I was no longer in control of my program.
The summer of 2002 I contacted my attorney about starting my own hobby business. I created ASAO Incorporated. ASAO stands for Anthony, and the rest of my family, Sabrina, Ariana and Olivia. The stars must have aligned that year because everything fell into place perfectly. I discovered a long lost friend of mine lived in Orange County, California, the epicenter of the radio controlled hobby industry in the United States. I told my friend the companies I want to speak with about their products and he said to give him a week. One afternoon he called me to tell me that he had arranged a meeting with the president of Tamiya and the national director of sales. "How?" I asked. "I walked in the front door and asked to see the president," he replied. He had arranged meetings with the biggest hobby companies in the United States for me.
Shocked I booked a three day trip to California during a school vacation. Tamiya was more than generous to grant me the ability to purchase directly from them and a found a new friend and supporter, Cort Vallens. Over the next three days I opened account with twelve other companies. It was a surreal experience. I now had the power to control what I taught and the supplies I needed to teach. My basement and garages became a makeshift seasonal hobbyshop.
A few years passed and Tamiya underwent some restructuring. My salesman and friend Cort Vallens left Tamiya and landed a job at competitor Kyosho America. I traveled again the California to secure a partnership with Kyosho. Since Cort was one of the key people in helping me become a distributor of Tamiya products the convincing was easy. Cort was quite aware of my programs and dedication to the propagation of the hobby. He was aware of the importance of involving young children with an introduction to the hobby and along with the long term advantages to the brand he represented. Cort immediately introduced me to the Kyosho Mini-Z line by sending me some Ferraris to play with. (I love free Ferraris) I immediately set about learning all I could about this relatively new hobby. It was not all too dissimilar to Tamiya Mini 4WD in that once again variables played a large role in tuning the cars. These cars too have upgrades available which the kids always love. Once again I introduced the new class to the Camp and nearly filled all the new classes. This class fit very well between Tamiya Mini 4WD and radio control car program since the children would learn how to modify and drive their cars further preparing them for building the big cars.
I had created five extemely successful classes.
I saw the potential of my classes and developed an after school program which was implemented Fall of 2005. The Mini-Z program, without surprise, filled immediately and was the first time I was able release the reigns and allow one of my assistants, Joe Manuele, to teach in my place. These classes continue to grow and we continue to implement hobby classes all over Westchester. Since the after schools clubs were so successful in my schools I was asked in Spring of 2007 to assist another local camp, The BEPT Summer Experience, in designing and supplying classes. With great success I trained two teachers to run Introduction to Rocketry and Mini-Z.
The next step in my business plan was a very difficult decision. I had to choose between staying at the camp where I had spent the last thirteen years and leaving to begin my own program. I had been searching for a location to start my own camp and found an amazing location in Fall 2007. Holy Rosary School is beautiful and perfect for my camp. They have large air conditioned rooms, huge fields, and gigantic parking lots for racing. For years I had been craving large open spaces.
That fall created camp where children could explore their interests in various hobbies. I wanted to introduce children to my love of hobbies and begin children on a path to life long healthy passions. I hired the very best teachers that shared my same passions and had their own individual interests. Kyosho and Tamiya recognized Discover Camp to run hobby based educational programs utilizing their products and provide direct factory support. Discover Camp is still the only camp in the country and possibly the world to have this recognition and support.
Today our camp has grown to offer 60 different enrichment classes in Science, arts, technologies, sports and hands on hobbies. I have accounts with the biggests names in the hobby industry and hobbies are still the lifeblood of Discover Camp. Through hard work and dedication I have created the premier enrichment of Westchester and it's only going to get better!
I hope this history sheds some light on how my companies and I have evolved side by side. You might say it's taken thirty eight years to create a camp that I'd be happy attending.
Discover Camp- What will yours kids learn this summer?
Last modified: Tuesday, 11 May 2010, 08:25 AM
