“I had a class that was all hard-core math, using statistics to figure out what was going on with the stock market,” he says. Van Fossen credits the math and analytics he learned while a student at Chicago Booth with enabling him to retire from his career at the age most others are still climbing the corporate ladder. To do well, the kids not only have to be good at math they also have to be able to translate their skills into finance or into practical knowledge, because Van Fossen is “horrified by the lack of financial knowledge in our country.” So for example, an easier question on the test could be: If you want to buy an $80 calculator, and you have $20 saved, and you make $4 per week, how long will it take for you to earn enough to buy the calculator? I was praying, ‘Please let the kids do well, and let this group do well.’” “It kind of broke my heart-I believe we have challenges in society, and here was this opportunity at this school, where we could get the kids excited about math, and if it lit a spark, they could get a job making them $150,000. When Van Fossen originally asked the gifted-math teacher at that school to send over some students, she was hesitant, concerned that the material might be too advanced for them.īut Van Fossen told her to send them anyway. The three students in the running for first place by the middle of the year were girls, and one of those girls was from a racially and economically diverse school that didn’t tend to be recognized for its academics. By the next test, there were a handful more who showed up, and by February, there were about 60. Word spread: Van Fossen was making math fun. “When I got in front of the kids, I cranked the volume up to 1,000, and I wore my T-shirt that said, ‘I’m kind of a big deal,’” Van Fossen says. At the first test, there were just 30 students. Whoever got the highest score based on their five best tests by the end of the year would get $500, followed by $350 for second place and $150 for third place. Van Fossen invited the top fourth- and fifth-grade math students to enter into the yearlong tournament, taking one test a month. The Summerfield Open was everything a mini Van Fossen would have wanted. Big prizes, complete with cheering? Check. He wanted to make sure it covered all the bases. Last year, Van Fossen volunteered to create a math competition in a North Carolina school district for fourth and fifth graders to get them excited about math and reward them for their enthusiasm. Van Fossen decided that when he grew up, he’d change the game. “No one cared,” says Van Fossen, now 40, who lives just outside Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kathryn Van Fossen, ’07, and their two children, aged 3 and 6. But unlike the sports stars at his school, Van Fossen returned to school to nothing, not cheering, not a parade or pep rally, not even a decorated locker. It was a big moment in his life, equivalent to making the all-state basketball team. Management Science and Operations ManagementĬontact Employer Relations and Corporate RelationsĪndrew Van Fossen, ’06, clearly remembers winning second place in a regional high-school math competition. MBA Master of Arts in Middle Eastern Studies MBA Master of Arts in International Relations MBA MA Eastern European Russian Eurasian Studies The University of Chicago Booth School of Business
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |