PARENTS OVERVIEW

Family Focus: Sergey and Viktoriya Guberman

When Sergey Guberman looks at a Staten Island Academy class picture, he sees something special. “There could be five, twenty, fifty children in the photograph. I look at every face,” explains Mr. Guberman. “Each one represents a separate life, a separate person, with unique challenges and possibilities. That’s what the Academy looks for in its students, and that’s why our family is here.”

It’s no surprise that Sergey and Viktoriya Guberman value challenges and possibilities. Their own story is proof-positive that the power of the individual is transformative. Their lives today are far from what they were expected to be, and far from where they began.

Mr. Guberman was born in Moldova Russia and lived there until he was 27 years old. His father was an engineer and his mother was a history teacher. “My parents sacrificed everything they had to send me to school in Moscow,” he recalls. “They knew education would open the door to a better future for me.” Mr. Guberman already had an inkling about that future. “I started dancing when I was six years old,” he recalls. “It came naturally to me, and I loved it.” Sure enough, Mr. Guberman received a Ballet Masters degree from Moscow’s Cultural University. While in Moscow, he also attended the Theatre University where he studied producing. After completing his studies, and serving two years in the Russian Army, Mr. Guberman became the choreographer for Moscow’s Rhythmic Gymnastics.

Mr. Guberman immigrated to America in 1992, and his experience as a choreographer came in handy when the Russian Sports Schools hired him almost immediately. He also earned extra money as a dancer in Russian restaurants. But, in spite of his industrious nature, adjusting to life in America wasn’t always easy. “Language is so important,” he reflects. “Many people don’t understand the immigrant experience. When you are intelligent and well-educated, but you cannot communicate, it is a source of terrible frustration. You become easily discouraged. I refused to be in that situation for long.” He enrolled at a Manhattan school to learn the English language, and he was quickly on his way.

Eventually Mr. Guberman made an auspicious move that changed the direction of his life. He went to work for a Brooklyn developer, an Italian woman with great empathy for the immigrant experience. She went out of her way to help Mr. Guberman learn the everyday nuances of the English language. He soon became more proficient and, with her encouragement, made his first speculative deal by buying and reselling a piece of property in Palm Coast, Florida. From there, he went on to get his broker’s license in 1997 and open his own firm.

While Mr. Guberman was making his way, his future wife was on a journey of her own. Viktoriya Guberman grew up in the Ukraine and attended public school there. Her mother was an accountant and her father was a mathematics and physics teacher. Following her years in the public school, Mrs. Guberman attended nursing school, subsequently working in a Children’s Hospital as a pediatric nurse. She came to America when she was 24, settling in Brooklyn. Mrs. Guberman recalls, “Like my husband’s family, my own family placed value on education. My father was a teacher, and I could easily have become a teacher. But from an early age I was drawn to nursing, and it has been a very fulfilling career.” Soon after moving to Brooklyn, Mrs. Guberman enrolled in two colleges – Hunter College and Molloy College. The curriculum at Molloy College included a special program for nurses from abroad who wanted to convert their credentials into an American license. Mrs. Guberman completed that program, and she went on to earn her RN. At 27, she married Sergey, and they soon added a son and daughter to their new family. When their children were old enough, Mrs. Guberman returned to work as a homecare nurse.

To the visitor’s eye, it is quite obvious that Sergey and Viktoriya Guberman are happy people. They have created a life for themselves and their children built on the premise that obstacles are opportunities waiting to happen. Their focus on the power of the individual has a lot to do with why they have chosen Staten Island Academy for their children. Mrs. Guberman sums it up for them both: “We love the diversity at the Academy. People here respect differences and reward personal initiative. All the most important things my husband and I have learned are reinforced by the experiences our children have here.”

Happily, Staten Island Academy has much to learn from the Guberman Family too.