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Steamboat Springs — Joe Roberts can hardly believe it.

"Thirty-six years have passed," he said Wednesday -- partly in disbelief, partly in reflection -- from inside his cozy second-floor office at The Lowell Whiteman School. "How did that happen?"

It began in 1968, when Roberts and his wife, Pat, left San Diego in search of adventure in a sleepy ski town that offered a unique opportunity.

More than three decades later, Roberts is still in Steamboat Springs and still teaching at The Lowell Whiteman School.

Of course, a lot has changed over the years.

Be it his job title, the school's picturesque campus or the ever-evolving lives of former students, Roberts seemingly has seen it all -- and recorded much of it.

Last month, Roberts secured his own place in school history when he was named the school's first recipient of the Whiteman Award for Excellence in Teaching.

The award was established to recognize and support outstanding teaching and to honor the pioneering spirit of school founder Lowell Whiteman and the Whiteman family.

The honor comes with a professional development stipend of $3,000.

The award will be given once every three years.

Though he prefers to stay away from the spotlight, Roberts said he was touched by the award, which was presented to him on graduation day in a gymnasium full of graduates, parents, faculty and alumni.

"My approach is largely to be anonymous," Roberts said.

"I don't like to put myself in the front. (The award) was very definitely a big deal. I was moved by it. It was a little staggering to be recognized that way."

As the award's first recipient, Roberts said it will be important for him to serve as a role model.

According to Joanne Lasko, Whiteman's academic dean, a role model is something Roberts became long ago.

"He's a great guy to work with and a great guy for the students," Lasko said.

"He's sort of timeless. He has this youth and enthusiasm about him that's really unbelievable. He's as enthusiastic now as he was when he started. That's rare in the teaching profession."

Roberts credits his enthusiasm and vigor to The Lowell Whiteman School's unusual program.

The school's openness to fresh ideas and the opportunities for students and faculty to bond and connect with one another is a key part of that experience, Roberts said.

Whiteman's outdoors and experiential programs include annual trips to foreign countries and an assortment of backcountry and wilderness adventures.

"The beauty of Whiteman school and any smaller school is that the kids aren't just students you see in the classroom," Roberts said.

"There's nothing like everyone being together, sweaty and uncomfortable in a second-rate bus headed into the Amazon rain forest."

As head of alumni relations, Roberts has followed the lives of just about every Whiteman graduate.

In July, he will attend a memorial service for one former alumnus on the same weekend he is a guest at the wedding of another.

On an upcoming trip to California, Roberts will not only visit his mother, but also 10 Whiteman alumni.

"It becomes truly a community," Roberts said of the family of Whiteman faculty and graduates.

"I'd say better than half my friends are alumni. It's much more of a life than a job."

During his years at Whiteman, Roberts has taught various disciplines of mathematics and biology.

He served for six years as the school's academic dean and is now in his 28th year as alumni director.

He continues to participate in many of the school's outdoor and foreign travel trips, too.

"It's never dull," Roberts said.

That's especially true of Roberts' classes, Lasko said.

"He tends to push the kids to the extreme, and I think that's why he's so good at what he does," she said. "There's no such thing as being passive in one of Joe's classes or on a foreign trip with him.

"He likes the kid who's a challenge. He sees the best in kids and brings it out. I don't know what we're going to do when we lose him."