Israel DeJesus

What was your very first job?

When I was a kid I worked in my dad’s grocery stores in New York. I worked as the cashier, stocking the shelves, everything that had to do with the store.

What place would you like to visit?

I'd like to go to China, although I have a fear of flying.

What are your hobbies or interests?

I like the martial arts. I like to do things around the house and I like spending time with my daughter, Mariana, 6 years old.

What are your favorite foods?

Seafood, rice, Italian food, Spanish food, (laughs) ALL food!

How did you get interested in cooking?

I got interested in cooking through my Grandmom, I was always in the kitchen with her. She was the best cook, so that got me interested in food. She would show me how she made things. Then when I came to the states, and started cooking in an Italian restaurant, they taught me how to make pizza. I was very young, still a

teenager.  Then I learned a lot of different dishes and I just enjoy cooking.

What was your favorite dish that your

grandmother would make?

I enjoy it all - but she had sweet rice that she would make and I always loved that. She would put coconut in it and it was delicious. It was like a dessert. She used to farm a lot, so all of the food was natural. It was straight from the ground. All different kinds of potatoes. That was a main dish that we ate a lot. When I was growing up we

didn't eat canned food, everything was from what she grew. There were a lot of us because she had 24 kids, and she raised 6 grand kids. She died at 98 years old, my grandfather died at 106.

Any favorite TV shows?

I used to watch ‘The Honeymooners’ with my dad.

What movies do you like?

When I rent a movie I like to watch action

movies, something to keep me awake. I like

movies with karate in them. I like western movies, movies with Clint Eastwood, those were the best.

What is your favorite music?

I like jazz. It helps me mellow.

What did you want to be when you were

growing up?

I wanted to grow up to be a detective. A drug busting agent.

What would you like to do one day?

I'm afraid of planes and flying but I'd love to go parachuting, just to get that fear out.

What is the best gift you've ever received?

When I get home and my daughter jumps on me and says "Hey Daddy!"

Are there any famous people, past or present that you'd like to meet?

Charles Bronson

If you could go back and give the teen age version of yourself advice – what would it be?

Stay in school and meet the goals that you really want.

Kathy Rosen

What is a typical work day for you?

I prepare monthly statements for the members.

I make sure that the correct members are getting billed and then at the end of the month I prepare the statement, and send the statements out to the members. I also bill for events, so if someone has a sponsored event I send the bill to the person who had the event and a copy to the member. And I bill for the general membership as well. Right now I'm busy with the

bylaw changes so they can now be billed monthly instead of just quarterly, if requested.

Are you married?

Yes I am, to Larry.

How did you meet?

I had a job at the podiatry school in Philadelphia in 1984 and he was a student there. I was working in academic affairs - helping the students with internships. We started seeing each other. It was funny, when I got the job my boss, who was a German woman, said "You vill not date das students" but (laughes) that's what ended up happening. Then we got married in 1986.

  

Do you have children?

Yes - two children, Sam is my son, he's 19. He's a freshman at Gettysburg College. Kelly is 15, she's a sophomore at Manheim Township.

What were some previous jobs that you've had?

My first job as a teenager was waitressing at Green Valley Country Club in Layfette Hill and I loved it. Now it's come full circle - I'm working at a country club again! It was just a lot of fun, I worked with a lot of fun people, some of which I'm still friends with. I worked there all through high school. I worked in Manhattan for a year for an employee benefit firm, which was really neat. My husband had a job in north New Jersey. We lived in New Jersey, and I thought "Well I'm not gonna work in stinkin' New Jersey when I can see Manhattan from our apartment." I took the bus into Manhattan every day for work. It was really neat - a good experience that I'm glad I had.

I also worked for an ad agency for 21 years before I worked here. I was director of administrative services but I was laid off. I took about a year and a half off. I did some volunteering, then this time last year I started quietly looking for a job  - nothing intense, and then this opportunity came.

What is your most favorite place you have been and where would you like to visit?

Disney World is probably my favorite vacation. They were magical vacations for us. Our kids were little the first time we went. Sam was 7 and Kelly was 4. There was a smile on his face the entire time. We went back several times, probably 5 times. We've been on 2 Disney cruises.

California was also wonderful. 2 years ago we took the kids from San Francisco all the way down to LA We visited Yosemite in between so that was a really fun trip. I liked San Francisco a lot but LA was not quite my cup of tea.

We took a trip to Arizona witch was really nice. Sedona was absolutely beautiful, We flew into Phoenix, and the Grand Canyon was fantastic. We've been to Puerto Rico, and one of my favorite places is Sea Isle, the beach in NJ. We've been going there for years.

I'd like to go to Europe, Greece, France , Italy, and any beach in the world!

What are your interests/ hobbies?

Wine, relaxing and reading by the pool.

What do you like to read?

I like mysteries, that was always my favorite but I got a little bit tired of them - they were too much of the same thing. I read a fantastic book this summer called 'Sarah's Key' It's a historical fiction. By far the best book I ever read, it was excellent.

What magazines do you read?

Ladies Home Journal, People, and cooking magazines when I get the chance.

Do you follow any sports teams?

My daughters soccer team - I've been watching her play soccer since kindergarden. She plays soccer pretty much all year round.

What are your favorite TV shows and movies?

I like Monk, we just got Netflix, so I saw that there were a couple of episodes that I missed so I'm watching those. I loved LOST when that was on, I do miss that. Desperate Housewives, it amuses me. I like The Middle, and Modern Family. Seinfeld, I've always loved that.

What is the best gift you've ever received?

My children

Who are a few famous people you'd like to meet?

Bruce Springsteen would be neat , Ryan Reynolds, Jacqueline Onassis, I actually saw her once in an elevator in New York, I had a job interview at Doubleday and she worked there at the time. We came down in the elevator together. That would be kinda neat - to talk with her.

If you could go back in time and give the teen-aged version of yourself some advice, what would you tell her?

I remember as a teen-ager thinking that only this particular moment right now mattered. I'd tell myself to slow down and take time to think about tomorrow.

Kathy's family was chosen to be the advertising models for Chocolate World's 'Really Big 3-D Show'. Although these pictures were taken several years ago - they are still being used to promote the Hersheypark attraction!

 

Steve Eliot

What is a typical work day for you?

We’re responsible for spraying chemicals, rolling greens, mowing fairways, anything pertaining to the grounds.

How early do you come to work?

Between 5:30am and 6am if we're watering. We come in between 4am and 4:30am on non-watering days. In the winter we start at 7am and are here until 3:30pm.

Are you married?

I’m married to Denise for 7 1/2 years, with 2 kids - Addison, she's 4, and my youngest will be 2 at the end of January - her name is Victoria.

How did you meet?

We met in high school at a friend’s birthday party. I was dating someone else at the time. Then the next year Denise needed a date to a winter formal dance, so she asked our mutual friends to ask me if I would go, so I went with her. I was a senior and she was a junior. We went to school in Wilmington. I grew up in Chester County, she grew up in Delaware, but we both went to private school. I went to an all-boys Catholic school and she went to an all-girls Catholic school - so that was very interesting.

What were some previous jobs that you've had?

Actually I've been doing this since I was 14. I used to work at Wilmington Country Club, then Kennett Square Country Club and then a golf club in Delaware. My 2 older brothers do the same thing. My oldest brother was the superintendent of a golf club in Delaware and my other brother is an assistant superintendent in Greensboro, North Carolina. It's a good job for me because I need to be outside. I can't be contained indoors. I need to be outside where I can breathe and be loud.

Do you play golf?

Not a lot. I like ice hockey, that's my outlet. I get rid of all of my rage that way.

Do you follow any other sports?

Football and hockey. I follow The Flyers and the Eagles. I watch soccer - English Premier League

What is your most favorite place and where would you like to visit?

Maui, I went on my honeymoon there. I want to go to Dublin, Ireland. I've been to London.

What are your interests/ hobbies?

Surf fishing in the summertime, and hanging out with the kids.

What is your favorite book?

‘Angela’s Ashes’ by Frank McCort

What are your favorite TV shows and movies?

I like old shows that aren’t on anymore like Lost 24, classic comedies like ‘The Cosby Show’, 80’s sitcoms like ‘Growing Pains’.My number one favorite movie is ‘Forrest Gump’. I like ‘It's A Wonderful Life’, the Godfather movies, any of the mob movies are awesome and ‘Wedding Crashers’.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

A paleontologist, and then I realized that there was a lot of schooling involved with that. I thought I could just dig holes and discover stuff. [Laughs]

What is the best advice you've ever gotten?

My Dad told me to always be yourself and be honest and I'm probably honest to a fault. People don't like it and I don't care what people think about me. You either love me or hate me. There's no middle ground.

Is there anything you'd like to do one day?

I'd love to go sailing, but the opposite end of the warm, tropical kind of sailing. I'd love to do the National Pond Hockey Championships in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They have an outdoor pond hockey 3 on 3 tournament. You have to bring a shovel, to shovel the pond. I want to retire young and not have to worry about money [Laughs]

http://www.uspondhockey.com/

What is the best gift you've ever received?

My kids.

Who are a few famous people you'd like to meet?

Kennedy, Obama, Tom Hanks, whoever invented beer, Henry 8th, someone off the wall like that.

If you could give the teen-aged you advice, what would you tell him?

Don't sweat the little stuff when you're growing up. None of the little school drama means anything when you're 20.

Chelsie Yacks

What is your typical day at work?

A typical day would be coming in and giving a couple of tennis lessons, and then teaching clinics from 4 – 6.

Do most of these kids play on the team here - or in school?

The majority play on their school team.

How did you get interested in tennis?

I used to play soccer and do gymnastics. My teacher said I should try tennis. Then my mom said I need to pick one sport, so I picked tennis.

At what age did you make that decision?

I started when I was 5 ½. I started playing

tournaments when I was 7 or 8.

What titles do you have?

I've won a bunch of tournaments. In my senior year of high school I placed second in leagues and every year we made it to states with the team.

What was your very first job?

I worked at Homestead Village, a retirement

community. I was a waitress there.

What is the best place you've ever been to and where would you like to go?

Laguna Beach, CA. I've played tennis out there. One day I would like to go to Wimbledon.

What sports teams do you follow?

I like the Phillies - it was a shame that they didn't make it this year. That was upsetting.

What books and magazine do you read?

I'm reading ‘Open’ by Andre Agassi, Teen, and Vogue.

Do you have any other interests and hobbies?

I like to play all sports, badminton, ping pong, paddle tennis, soccer, and baseball.

I also like acting and modeling. With modeling I've done some runway. With acting, I've gone to New York for 4 weeks last summer to the New York

Conservatory, for dramatic art. I have an acting coach in Ephrata, I have an agent in Philly, and he gets me work. I've been in one movie as a 'featured extra' - I saw my face for about 10 seconds. The movie is called ‘The Café’. Jennifer Love Hewitt is the lead,

Jamie Kennedy is in it too. I went to go watch it in Philly a couple of weeks ago.

At the time were they involved with each other?

Yeah, they were, and then they broke up.

It was funny because when we went to watch the movie, Jamie’s parents were sitting next to me.

Have you done stage work?

When I was a freshmen in high school I took one class, and I was in a play titled 'Cinderella Wore

Combat Boots', or something crazy like that, but I don't like stage as much as film.

What are some of your favorite movies?

Recently I saw ‘The Town’ and thought it was pretty good, I like Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck.

What are your favorite TV shows?

‘The Office’, ‘Community’, I love comedies, a lot.

When I act I would like to do comedies.

Growing up what did you want to be?

I always wanted to be a tennis player. Every time we would get assignments in school that asked 'What do you want to be?" I'd put 'a tennis pro'.

What is the best advice you've ever gotten?

Never give up, don't let people bring you down, if someone says you can't do something - don't believe it, believe in yourself.

  

Who are some famous people past or present that you would like to meet?

I'd love to meet Roger Federer - and beat him in a match [laughs], Amanda Seyfried (she had the same acting coach that I have now), Ashton Kutcher,

Channing Tatum.

If you could meet the younger version of you - what would you tell her?

Focus at every single practice, listen well so you can learn faster.