Thank You For Being Such A Vital Part Of Our Team, Connor S. We Look Forward To Sharing More About You So Others Can Get To Know You Better!
Tell us a bit about your backstory and what led you down your current life path.
In college, I discovered my passion for economics, realizing it’s the science of decision-making. After supporting local government finance officials as a junior analyst, I aimed to apply data to business strategies. Pursuing a master’s in business analytics and learning to code, I navigated through grad school amid the pandemic. Now settled in Chicago with my wife, Kendall, I’m eager to embark on my career as a Data Scientist at United Airlines.
What or who inspired you to pursue your career?
In childhood, I watched a lot of friends and family struggle financially, and I saw the stress those financial struggles created. It was difficult as a kid to understand the socioeconomic environment that was creating these kinds of pressures. This is another reason why my economics classes resonated strongly with me – a lot of what we were learning could be used to explain the cause behind the struggles of my friends and family. That need for more understanding led me to develop, in some ways by accident, a skillset that filled a niche in corporate data science. Today I’m thankful that I’m able to see challenges as a problem with a cause that can be discovered and mitigated, and I hope my tutoring work will help students end the term with a similar perspective.
What is one thing you are most proud of achieving in your life?
I’m a practicing musician, and in college, I met up with some friends from high school and joined their band. Our drummer signed us up for a battle of the bands and only told us nine days in advance. We had a handful of finished songs, but nowhere near the 45-minute setlist, we were expected to play on stage! Thankfully this was in the summer, so we were able to get together and crank out music and lyrics to a 9-song setlist in 9 days, and we ended up winning the battle. The experience taught me that stress is a lot easier to manage when you’re doing something you’re passionate about or interested in.
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
My family had to move in the middle of high school. I was struggling with the move since I would no longer see my friends regularly, and the middle of high school is a difficult time to make new friends or belong to groups that were established before you got there. The counselor at the new school, Coach Ellis, encouraged me to join the wrestling team since I had done martial arts previously. I was apprehensive at first since I knew nothing about the sport, but he convinced me that it would be a good use of time. I met lifelong friends because of that and learned the importance of putting myself out there to connect with others, even if it’s uncomfortable at first.
What do you enjoy most about teaching/tutoring?
My economics education deepened my understanding of socioeconomic forces, but it didn’t alleviate my concerns about global issues. Volunteering in various capacities, I’ve realized the transformative impact of helping students early on. School can be stressful, and without support, children may miss the value of education. Given my privileged education, I believe everyone deserves the same knowledge. Tutoring, in my view, is a powerful tool to break the cycle of poverty, with lasting benefits for generations to come.
What do you like to do in your free time?
As I mentioned, I’m a musician. So I like to write songs. I’m working on recording them too, and have been taking some music production/mixing classes online. Once fully settled in Chicago, I think I’ll ask around and try to get a band together so I can play live shows like I used to since they’re quite fun. I also enjoy playing strategy video games and binging TV on the couch with my wife when we can.
Describe an amazing trip you took. Where did you go and what did you enjoy most?
My wife and I spent 10 days in Italy a couple of years ago. As an airline employee, you can sometimes get an empty seat on flights, but your destinations are often limited. So while we wanted to go to the Amalfi coast, I was only able to fly us into Rome. This launched a 20-hour travel day in which we landed in Rome, took a train to Naples, walked through Naples to find the harbor, took a ferry to the isle of Capri, and then another ferry to Positano where our Airbnb was located. It was daunting, but the landscape was so beautiful (and the food so good) that we didn’t care. I’d recommend it to anyone, but just pay full price for a ticket straight into Naples instead.
Is there something exciting you are working on now? What is it and why did you choose to start it?
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley inspired me. It delves into a seemingly utopian world where personal fulfillment is sacrificed for social efficiency. The novel’s humanistic message emphasizes the value of discomfort in pursuit of personal goals. This resonates with the importance of tutoring – a way for students to break free from the constraints of an education system, take control, and leverage what’s valuable to their lives for academic success.
The road to success is difficult and requires tremendous dedication. What advice would you give to a young person who aspires to follow in your footsteps and emulate your success? Focus
Advice to aspiring young individuals: Work hard but don’t take yourself too seriously. Many regret neglecting personal needs for money or career. Peace comes from focusing on what you can control. Instead of fixating on specific goals, improve skills daily and embrace opportunities that come your way. You control the success of your life, but trying to control every detail can be overwhelming. Focus on what you can control, leaving room to connect with others, understand yourself, and fulfill important needs.
What are you most passionate about? Can you share a story?
Thomas Jefferson supposedly said, “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it”. I like this quote because it highlights that we can, to some extent, create our opportunities. However, I don’t like the phrase “hard work”, and don’t think it is correlated with success in the modern world. Many socioeconomic pressures have broken this correlation. So I’ll supplement that quote with Bill Gates: “Work smart, not hard”. The way to work smart is to set goals and spend your day in pursuit of those goals in the most efficient way possible. This avoids the pitfall of thinking if you just put your head down and suffer enough, success will come to you.
