Robert Sanchez didn’t have to read a book to learn about the struggles and obstacles a young child from Idaho can face.

He knows about those obstacles firsthand.

He was born and raised in Nampa, the second oldest in a family of four. His mother was a single parent who did not progress past the eighth grade.

“English was the second language for us,” Sanchez said.

His mother worked in a hotel during the day and at a bar at nighttime.

Learn more about Dr. Robert Sanchez in this video.

“We’d hang out with Mom at the bar, eat dinner there, try to do our homework,” Sanchez said. “So we were the quintessential latchkey kids.”

Somehow, someway, Sanchez lifted himself up. He learned to value education at a young age and went on to earn two master’s degrees and a PhD.

That that wasn’t the case with his siblings.

“For me, education was always at the top of my list,” Sanchez said. “But my brother and sisters weren’t as fortunate. I had a little sister who repeated the cycle. She had a little girl when she was 15 years old, and then faced the same barriers and challenges my mother faced. … My older sister ran away from home, and she never came back.”

These are the life experiences that Sanchez said will help guide him as he steps into his role as the new executive director of the Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC).

“I come from a background that understands that Idaho’s families and children face significant barriers and challenges,” Sanchez said. “They need all the help they can get, and that’s why I’m proud and humbled to be a part of this organization.”

Helping hands

Sanchez said he often wonders why his path was so much different than that of his siblings. The answers aren’t easy, but he knows that he didn’t forge his path to success alone.

“We hear a lot about adverse childhood experiences, and it takes an exponential number of positive experiences to cancel that adverse experience out,” Sanchez said. “It’s not a one-to-one deal. A lot of research shows that … and I was fortunate to have been in an environment where I had opportunities to find positive experiences in church, in martial arts, in school.”

He built on those opportunities as he joined the Army. For the next 24 years – most of them as a lieutenant colonel – he served his country with distinction.

He married his wife, Lori, before joining the Army and they lived a life on the move for the next two-plus decades. They lived in Georgia, Hawaii, Arizona, North Carolina, Washington, Kansas, Italy and Germany.

Sanchez also served on combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, including a mission in which he and his fellow soldiers parachuted into Iraq with the intent of securing northern Iraq.

He and his wife raised two children along the way. When Sanchez decided to retire from the military his colleagues wondered why, since he had enjoyed nothing but success in the Army.

But Sanchez had his reasons, and his next life goal.

A renewed focus on education

“I knew education was going to be at the top of my list after leaving the military,” Sanchez said. “I wanted to pursue a PhD and I wanted to go into a specialty that would have the greatest impact, and I decided it was educational leadership.

“And so, I’ve combined my leadership experience from the military with a passion for education.”

For the past four-plus years, Sanchez worked at the Idaho Business for Education (IBE), and Rod Gramer witnessed Sanchez combine those skills with great effect.

“He’s a very strategic thinker, and he has a passion for education,” said Gramer, the CEO and president of IBE. “He’s seen it all, so to speak, so he can tackle almost any issue in a thoughtful way.”

Gramer has no doubt that Sanchez’s tenure at AEYC will be a successful one: “I’m very high on him.”

Gramer said part of Sanchez’s potential success will come from his ability to foster relationships.

“He comes into this job with great contacts and credibility with educators around the state,” Gramer said.

One of those contacts is Tennille Call, the director of education for United Way of Southeastern Idaho.

“He joined our local early-learning collaborative while he was at Idaho Business for Education,” Call said. “And he asked to join, which was very exciting.”

Call worked with Sanchez over a four-year span, and she said it didn’t take long to appreciate what he brought to the table.

“He is super thoughtful and intentional about the work,” Call said. “I was really excited when he was given the role (at AEYC) because I value his input.”

Call also learned to value Sanchez’s grace.

“His ability to champion the work and the people who are doing the work is going to be a huge asset,” Call said. “When you have a resume like his, you might not expect him to leave a meeting and send an email saying how much he appreciates you. That’s not something you find on a resume. It’s pretty powerful.”

The home life

One might think that when Sanchez leaves his office in Boise to return to his home in Nampa his focus on education is left behind.

Well, he doesn’t really have that choice.

His wife, Lori, is the Dean of the College of Education at Northwest Nazarene University. So, they have plenty to talk about in regard to education.

And the two have passed on their passion for education to their children. Their daughter is a graduate of NNU and Boise State University and she works for Idaho Board of Education. Their son, also a graduate of NNU, is a medical officer going through an internship at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas.

As if that wasn’t enough of a focus on education, Sanchez does a little teaching on the side. A third-degree black belt, he teaches martial arts classes to at-risk population groups in Nampa.

Sanchez said he constantly reminds himself to appreciate the people in his life, from his family to his friends to his working colleagues.

“I think the significance of relationships can’t be overstated,” he said. “I can trace every good thing in my life back to relationships.”

‘The adult in the middle’

As Sanchez steps into his new role at AEYC he replaces Beth Oppenheimer, who led the organization for 13 years.

He said he is grateful for the staff that Oppenheimer helped put in place at AEYC.

“I’m excited because this organization is comprised of incredible people,” Sanchez said. “The retention rate is a testament to the quality of people in this organization.”

That doesn’t mean that Sanchez won’t put his own stamp on AEYC.

“My focus is what I’ve heard so eloquently described as the adult in the middle,” he said. “That’s our parents, our child-care providers, our educators. My focus is to build on that culture and to strengthen relationships across multiple organizations and sectors – non-profits, businesses, government – to have the largest impact on that adult in the middle.”

In essence, he wants to help those people who help the kids.

“That’s not to say the rest of it will take care of itself,” he said. “But if I can get that piece right I think I will have helped to move the needle across our state in regard to early-childhood education.”