Joe Sandbrook, a member of the Patchogue-Medford Class of 1988, went to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, and graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He majored in art direction in advertising and minored in graphic design.

He currently works for Nickelodeon in the Consumer Products Division. Joe designs toys and toy packaging for Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys, Rocket Power, and As Told By Ginger. He also reviews all commercials for these properties to make sure that they represent the property correctly.

Joe was also the creative contact In New York for all things regarding the "Rugrats in Paris the Movie". This means that any consumer product for the movie, from cereal packaging to Burger King promotions, needed his approval.

Joe attended Canaan Elementary and Saxton Middle School. His most memorable Patchogue-Medford High School experience is designing the logo, printing the shirts and designing sets for the class of 1988 senior show, "OZ".

We asked Joe if there were teachers who were very inspirational, or who made a difference in his life. Here is what he said:

The first teacher I had that seem to inspire me was my middle school art teacher, Mr. Soldano. He made the class fun. I even remember cutting out of Social Studies to finish project I was working on in his class or just to hang out.

The second teacher was my sophomore drawing teacher, Mrs. Carter. I loved her personality - she was a lot of fun to be around. I probably drove her a little nuts from time to time with some practical jokes. At the end of the year I remember apologizing for all of them.

The third teacher was one of my high school art teachers, Mr. Cordone. I use to love the way he would give people nicknames, and never took any nonsense from some of the annoying students in the class.

The fourth teacher was Ms. Westoff. I never had a lot of school spirit - I was just wrapped up in Art and didn't really care about getting involved with anything. But somehow she convinced me to work on the Senior show. It ended up being a great experience.

All of those teachers really inspired me and helped make me the person I am today. I would also like to say that the Art program in Patchogue - Medford was a well put together program. I was much more prepared and much more diverse in my skills then a lot of students because of what I was taught in school. I really hope that our school district keeps the funding up to allow other students to have the same experiences that I had. People always want to cut funding for the Art program, and I think it is a shame. People don't realize that everything that you see in your life, besides nature, was designed by someone.

The Patchogue-Medford Congress of Teachers is very proud of Joseph Sandbrook and his many accomplishments. We hope that when you watch a the Nickelodean shows mentioned above, you will think about the man behind the scenes - Joe Sandbrook.