About Barbara
BARBARA (ROWE-ROBERTS) HINKEL; teacher, recreational director and instructor in ballroom dance was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe in Africa. She graduated from the prestigious Wycombe Abbey School and Bedford College of Physical Education in the United Kingdom. Barbara started teaching in a British private school. For the last 30 years she has been teaching etiquette, dance, gymnastics, and swimming and other recreational programs on three continents.
It is a constant source of pleasure for me to find out, that through my help, my students have developed confidence, poise, and social techniques. Parent feedback tells me my students have been able to handle difficult situations successfully. Situations; such as divorce, death, bullies, dealing with adults and boy/girl quandaries; have been specifically mentioned. This means my greatest hope for this program is being realized. If my humble efforts can help children blossom into confident, self-assured young ladies and gentlemen able to deal with the majority of life's social situations, then I am satisfied.
One way I judge the quality of my program is through the feedback I get from students and parents. Statistics add substance to the feedback. My students average 75 to 90 % on the etiquette quizzes I give them each lesson to measure how well the information poresented is retained. I am proud to say that many siblings of previous students are now taking my courses (sometimes as high as 40 % of a class), and a large percentage of new students come from referrals from both exuberant students and well-satisfied parents. This is my fourteenth year of teaching this etiquette and cotillion program. During the school year 2002-2003 I have surpassed my 6,500 th student taking one of my courses; 50% of whom have done this in just the last seven school years (over 600 per year average).
Barbara Hinkel (Click for larger photograph )
BARBARA HINKEL
