Sandia Prep: 2016 - 2017 Annual Report

“I hold a
special place
in my heart
and attribute a
portion of my
personal and
professional
successes
to my prep
experience.”
Alex Gerber ’99
Alex Gerber ’99 began working in commercial real estate
while he was a junior at Southern Methodist University.
“Post 9/11, the job market in DFW was not great, so I
wanted to make sure I had a leg up on a career before
finishing school.”
After SMU, Alex developed more than three million square
feet of shopping centers in Texas and Oklahoma. In 2009,
he co-founded Cobalt Real Estate Services, LLC and acts as
the COO of Cobalt with offices in DFW, Austin, San Antonio,
and Houston. He also serves as the chairman of the board
of BBGB Commercial Real Estate which manages and owns
commercial real estate throughout Texas. Alex continues to
have business ties to home, providing consulting services
to Albuquerque based Titan Development for their Texas
assets and serves as President for TST Realty LLC.
Alex and his wife Tierney, live in San Antonio with their
two boys, Holden, 4 and Preston, 2. In addition to Alex
coaching his son’s tee ball team, the Gerber family enjoys
running, swimming, biking, skiing, hunting, and fishing. Alex
competed in the 2016 Ironman U.S. Championships and
plans to compete again in April. He was recently accepted
to become a USAT Level 1 Certified Triathlon Coach and will
provide free coaching to wounded warriors and/or former
military. He also qualified for the Olympic Distance Triathlon
Nationals and will compete in Nebraska this summer.
Our ’99 grad values his Prep experience and recently made
his first gift to Sandia Prep’s Annual Fund. “I hold a special
place in my heart and attribute a portion of my personal
and professional successes to my Prep experience. I valued
the curriculum, exposure, diversity, structure, and the Prep
“family.” It is with great pleasure that I contribute to the
fund in hopes it can impact a student similarly. My boys will
attend a private school in San Antonio with similar values,
and as a parent I strive to provide them with the best
opportunities possible. Having been at Prep, my standards
are high, and it is difficult to find a comparable school.”
It’s no surprise that Ms. Sarah Wilson lists these as her favorite hobbies:
being outside, hiking, camping, cross-country skiing, gardening, and
traveling to different places. She has been a staple of Sandia Prep’s Outdoor
Leadership Program and,
of course, an integral
part of the science and
geology curriculum.
“I am a fortunate person
because I live what I teach.
Through many summer
courses, connections with
professors at UNM, and
my own travels I have
experienced first-hand
many of the topics I cover
in my geology classes.”
Students in Ms. Wilson’s
classes are often out
in the field in order to
experience what they are
learning. She feels it is
one of the best parts of
teaching. “Watching a
student finally put all the
pieces together and have an understanding of a concept is always a moment
to cherish as a teacher. Being a lifelong learner is also a huge part of being a
passionate teacher.”
Ms. Wilson earned her undergraduate degree at the University of New
Mexico and worked on her master’s degree at the New Mexico School of
Mining and Engineering. She also spent many summers taking courses in
different areas of science, most of which were geology focused with many of
hours of field work.
Ms. Wilson first came to Prep as a parent; her son Bryan graduated from Prep
in 2009. We are thankful she decided to become part of the science faculty
and continually share her passion for geology with our students. She has
spent countless hours with students inside and outside the classroom and
says some of her best Prep memories are being out in the Ojito Wilderness
with her ninth-grade students “traveling through geologic time.”
9