Paul Bronsteader

Graduate class of 1988, Paul Bronsteader is the co-owner of Kodiak Mobile Television, LLC. He attended Columbia college and received his B.A. in Television production in 1993. He has over 20 years of show-producing experience for major television networks and three national sports Emmys. He has attended the last three Olympics, traveled the world, and has been to world-renown sports venues. He has produced various videos in the health care and education fields. Bronsteader has a strong work ethic and believes in giving back. He regularly takes high school students from his church on mission trips and manages the church garden.

When Bronsteader was notified of the award, he was surprised and humbled.

“I do not think that my career has been that amazing to warrant an award of this nature,” he admitted.

He was nominated by his family, and was surprised to get the call from Superintendent Dr. Kevin Skinkis.

“ I would have never expected this award. I really don’t think that I do anything extraordinary to deserve an honor like this,” Bronsteader said.

Bronsteader considered himself an average student, participating in cross country, baseball and basketball during high school.

“I really liked being on the basketball team and enjoyed the competition.  I am still friends with several teammates from the basketball and baseball teams,” he said.

He had great memories from RBHS and gladly attended reunions with his family.

“I actually remembered my locker combination and, during the tour we took of the school during my 20th reunion, I wanted to see if it was still the same,” he said.

Bronsteader attended the reunion with his both his dad and brother, who both graduated from RB earlier. (1948 and 1978).

“It worked! I left a note in the locker for the student.  I wonder what he or she was thinking when they opened it on Monday,” Bronsteader wondered.

His favorite memories include building floats for the homecoming parades and all four seasons of basketball.  

“I think my love of sports definitely started at RB and continued into my career now,” Bronsteader said.

Regrettably Bronsteader was not involved in RBTV when he was a student.

“I really wish I would have been.  I didn’t know I wanted to be in television until I went to college,” he said.

The road after high school for Bronsteader was like most.

“I had no idea what I was going to do when I left RB.  I went to Illinois State as a business major, transferred to Columbia College Chicago after 2 years, and started to really enjoy my new major (Television Production),” he said.

Bronsteader continued, “I had no idea I would ever travel or even knew that there were opportunities like I have had in television.”

Bronsteader holds his old Area Studies teacher, Mr. Abrahamson, responsible for his desire to travel.

“I took several semesters of Area Studies with him and he shared his extensive travel experience with us.  We studied all the areas he had been to personally and he gave us first hand knowledge of so many different cultures. I have been fortunate enough to go to several of the countries that we studied like Russia, China, and Greece,” Bronsteader said.

Another teacher he really respected and enjoyed was his Drafting and Design and Architecture teacher.

“He really taught us the responsibility to get things done on our own,” he said.

All in all, Bronsteader is thankful for attending RB, and is grateful for the things he took away from the high school experience

“RB certainly helped prepare me for my later career.  I am sure it is mostly things that are not really book related but items like accountability, punctuality, being part of a team, and just overall responsibility.  Those are all very important attributes that I have needed in my career,” he said.

On a last note, Bronsteader left some advice for the current RBHS high school students.

“It sounds so cliche… but be yourself.  I know it may be hard to do and sometimes people won’t like you, but you have to make yourself happy before anyone else,” Bronsteader said.