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Date of Birth
Robert Zelinski was born on June 11th, 1959. He was born in a little town in West Virginia called Lewisberg. He had a brother and a sister and a dog named Max. His family was not very rich, but he recalled a very happy childhood. His father was a real estate salesman and his mother was a stay at home mom. -
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Lifespan
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Elementary School
Robert went to a tiny elementary school with about 40 or so kids. He said he used to enjoy school somewhat, but he would much rather be playing outside. He recalled having a lot of friends and enjoyed playing baseball more than anything. He said that he doesn't remember his teachers very well, but they did a good enough job moving him along from grade to grade. -
High School
Robert went to Lewisburg High School and said that this is where he started to take his school more seriously. He remembered that he didn't very much enjoy classes like math and science. He much preferred his courses about social sciences and humanities. Then, his junior year he took his first psychology class and said that he immediately knew that this was going to be his passion in life. He loved learning about the human psyche, and possible reasons why people behave the way that they do. -
High School Psychology
Robert told me that his high school psychology teacher was the person that had the greatest influence on his life at the time. When I asked him how, he said his teacher Mr. Lewis took so much pride in his teaching and really put in great amounts of effort to teach his kids in an active and fun manner. He described how his teacher would use unconventional ways to teach his students about certain concepts and famous experiments in psychology, and that this would engage everyone in the class. -
College life
Since Robert was so passionate about Psychology, he knew that is what he wanted to major in. He ended up seeking out schools that emphasized liberal arts and ended up going to Carleton College in Minnesota. He said that he was very immersed in his school work and spent a lot of his days just reading his textbooks. He knew that someday he would become a psychiatrist. -
Completed College
Robert went on to graduate school and eventually got his Ph.d in Psychology at the University of Illinois. He said that the years of graduate school are the ones that shaped him the most. He talked about how personal his relationships with his professors seemed and how much he loved talking to them and collaborating with them on projects. He told me how much he learned from them and that they were his mentors. He said that earning his Ph.d was the greatest accomplishment of his career. -
Became part of a clinic
Robert finally achieved his life long goal of being a psychiatrist and becoming part of a clinic. He got his office in Wheaton, IL and has been practicing ever since. He says it is his absolute destiny in life to help with the mental issues of others. Every day he feels like he makes a large impact on someones life and has developed long relationships with some of his patients. He says that helping those in need is his purpose on this earth. -
The date when I interviewed Robert
Robert Zelinski is the therapist that my sister and mother have been seeing for a while. I had never talked to him before, but my mother urged me, as a psychology major, to talk to someone about potential career options. After talking to him about potential career paths, I realized what an insightful and helpful man he was and asked him if I could interview him for a project in one of my classes. -
More on the interview
I decided to interview a psychiatrst because I am a psychology major myself. I wanted to get some insight on what it was like to be a therapist for a living because it is a path that I want to go down some day. Listening to his experiences really made me realize how much we had in common. I too had an amazing high school psychology teacher that made me want to pursue the subject in college. I had no idea what I wanted to major in, until I took a psych class at my high school my senior year. -
Personal Reflection
About a week into my senior year psychology class, I knew immediately that this was what I wanted to study in college. Much like Robert, I can attribute this interest not only to the subject, but to my teacher as well. She had so much passion and enthusiasm that she conveyed to her students that made me actually enjoy going to class for once. It really is amazing how much impact one teacher can have on the future of one of her students. -
The future
Robert told me that his goals for the future were basically to keep doing what he has been doing. He said that his objective for the rest of his life was going to be helping as many people as he could until someone forces him to retire. He conveyed his passion and determination to me and talked about how his ultimate goal is changing the lives of patients and that he will continue to do it for as long as he can. -
My future
Hearing first hand about the success of someone else has definitely energized me. It was great to hear about how one teacher had impacted his life, just like one teacher impacted mine. It was very insightful to talk to a man with so much passion for his craft and it really made me believe that he has a large impact on the lives of his patients. Dr. Zelinski is without question someone making a difference every day. I will think of him as my own journey continues in the field of psychology.
