We see professors everyday, but let’s face it—we don’t know very much about them.

Granted, we’ve all wondered about what our professors do when they leave the campus. All faculty members have a life story, like physical education instructor Kevin Simmers. He has been teaching for 32 years, and his specialties include teaching ballet, yoga and Pilates here at Skyline and at the CSM Athletic Club. However, his skills aren’t just limited to the aforementioned physical activities, as he also teaches jazz dance and acting. In addition, not only does he teach at the community college level, but he currently teaches a senior citizen fitness class that originated as a course at Skyline at the Arroyo Center in South City.

“I love to teach, I love to share what I know about each subject and my experience. I feel fairly unique because most teachers in a dance department don’t always have a professional career,” Simmer said.

Such is not the case for Simmers, who “came late to teaching” after a professional career of dancing and acting. He notes that he didn’t ever conceive of teaching as he grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and later majored in art in college. He remembers being very serious about professional dance when he was younger and recalls training at the Peninsula Ballet Theater in San Mateo. His training was not just local however; he took his career to New York, where he studied under great teachers. He even took his career a leap further and danced with the National Ballet of Ireland. Simmers has had professional training in dance, but his talents also encompass acting. 

“At a certain point in my dance career, I wanted to open my mouth. So I went to the Drama Studio of London and studied as an actor and graduated from there.”

However, even with a masters in theater and directing, he had trouble finding a job. Fortunately, a friend who was an instructor at Skyline mentioned that the community college was looking to hire an aerobics instructor, and Simmers took the job. While at Skyline, Simmers revived the yoga program which had, up until his hire, been dormant.

“Ever since, it’s been largely popular,” he said. He’s been teaching yoga for 12-13 years and Pilates for 8 years. He is also involved in the Pilates certification program at CSM.

Today, as a physical educator and acting coach, he continues doing what he loves in San Mateo, San Bruno, and even Frankfurt, Germany, where every year he’s invited to teach at the Goethe University and the Chaincourt Theater Companies, both located in the German city. Simmers has taken his love of the arts far and wide, which reflects his passion for what he does and connects to the Skyline students he imparts his knowledge to.

“The diversity at Skyline is really quite extraordinary,” he says. ” Sometimes I look out at my students and I’m amazed at people whose ancestors come from all over the world. I feel a part of the great American experiment of trying to make this all work—to make us all work together.”

If you’re interested in upcoming dance events, Simmers’ ballet class final will be held on Dec. 9 from 11-12:30 in the dance studio located in building 3. The final will be open to anyone interested in watching.

Simmers maintains that his classes offer something to students that can truly help them be healthier.

“I tell my students that 25 years from now, after you’ve raised your family or you’re at a certain point in your life, it’s the yoga class you’re gonna come back to in your local community, or the Pilates class. You’re not gonna say, ‘I think I’m gonna take trigonometry again’. I think I do something of importance, of great value. It’s a gift to be able to be paid to do what you love.”