June 12, 2025 • 36 mins
What happens when math becomes more than a subject and starts shaping futures?
Michael Marion, Director of The Actuarial Foundation and Steve Alpert, FSA, MAAA, former President of the American Academy of Actuaries, share how a bold campaign is expanding opportunity, strengthening the profession, and inspiring the next generation of leaders.
Michael and Steve discuss:
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
5:48:99 Three benefits of non-profits for the actuarial profession
9:55:67 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projected number of unfilled STEM jobs
10:40:34 The relevance of STEM education
12:46:22 The importance of numeracy in society
15:06:64 The All for Math Campaign
17:45:57 The Actuarial Foundation’s core programs
18:18:04 Programs with the greatest need for volunteers
22:14:76 Three benefits of volunteering as an actuary
25:11:47 Volunteering as a mutually beneficial exercise
27:22:70 Math Motivators Tutoring Program volunteer experience
29:25:15 Modeling the Future Challenge volunteer experience
34:40:66 High-level episode recap
35:41:69 How to sign up to donate/volunteer for the campaign
Donate/volunteer for the All For Math Campaign:
https://actuarialfoundation.org/all-for-math/
Follow The Actuarial Foundation:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-actuarial-foundation/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/actuarialfoundation?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
Twitter - https://x.com/actuarialfound?s=21&t=ktbGj8B4LuIhcfbBPSeJGQ
Follow Dominic:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-lee-acas
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dlee2100?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
Twitter - https://x.com/maverickactuary?s=21&t=ktbGj8B4LuIhcfbBPSeJGQ
Michael Marion, Director of The Actuarial Foundation and Steve Alpert, FSA, MAAA, former President of the American Academy of Actuaries, share how a bold campaign is expanding opportunity, strengthening the profession, and inspiring the next generation of leaders.
Michael and Steve discuss:
- The importance of non-profits for the actuarial profession
- The relevance of STEM education in society
- The All for Math Campaign
- The value of volunteering in the actuarial profession
- The Math Motivators Tutoring Program
- The Modeling the Future Challenge
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
5:48:99 Three benefits of non-profits for the actuarial profession
9:55:67 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projected number of unfilled STEM jobs
10:40:34 The relevance of STEM education
12:46:22 The importance of numeracy in society
15:06:64 The All for Math Campaign
17:45:57 The Actuarial Foundation’s core programs
18:18:04 Programs with the greatest need for volunteers
22:14:76 Three benefits of volunteering as an actuary
25:11:47 Volunteering as a mutually beneficial exercise
27:22:70 Math Motivators Tutoring Program volunteer experience
29:25:15 Modeling the Future Challenge volunteer experience
34:40:66 High-level episode recap
35:41:69 How to sign up to donate/volunteer for the campaign
Donate/volunteer for the All For Math Campaign:
https://actuarialfoundation.org/all-for-math/
Follow The Actuarial Foundation:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-actuarial-foundation/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/actuarialfoundation?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
Twitter - https://x.com/actuarialfound?s=21&t=ktbGj8B4LuIhcfbBPSeJGQ
Follow Dominic:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-lee-acas
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dlee2100?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
Twitter - https://x.com/maverickactuary?s=21&t=ktbGj8B4LuIhcfbBPSeJGQ
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm very excited to be featuring the Alpha Math campaign
on behalf of the Actuarial Foundation, and I just wanted
to say a few things before we speak to our guests.
The first thing is the important of STEM education is
a topic I'm very passionate about, being an actuarial profession
and having a very rich history with MATH. I'm actually
(00:21):
a past scholar of the actual Foundation, so I have
a very strong connection to the organization that is a
lot of good and we'll be learning about them throughout
the course of the episode. And also there's a very
strong alignment between some of the work I've been doing
with my personal brand, Maverick Actuary, in terms of advancing
the actuarial profession on a global scale. So very excited
(00:43):
about this episode and would love to introduce our guests.
So first we have Mike Marion, director of Development at
the Actuarial Foundation, and we also have Steve Alpert, who's
a retired actuary, the former president of the American Academy
of Actuaries, and an active volunteer at the Actuarial Foundation.
(01:04):
So I'd love love to give you you guys a
chance to introduce yourself. So we'll start with with Mike.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Hi, thank you so much. As you said, my name
is Michael Marion, the director of development here at the Foundation,
and uh, it's a real honor to be with you
both today. I appreciate the invitation and really excited for
the chance to talk about the exciting work that we
do with the Foundation and you know, talk about some
of the ways that we're helping young people achieve their
(01:31):
goals in math education is something that wasn't always very
important to me. It wasn't until I was probably a
junior senior in high school where I started to realize
how important this this really is and how it might
just affect my future a little bit. And you know,
as I got older and grew, I all of a sudden,
(01:55):
you know, I started to realize all the ways that
my life was changed by the various opportunities that I had.
So it's a real joy to be able to work
at an organization that provides that kind of help for
young people, to help them change their trajectories, help them
achieve their goals, and you help them improve themselves.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Excellent, Thank you, Mike. How about you, Steve.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Well kind of a different story.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
I come at this from the volunteer angle, and like
the two of you actually really feel that it is
important that we can do what we can do for
our community. I've always had a whole lot of volunteering.
The actual Foundation was not something that was really a
(02:46):
whole lot on my radar until my presidential year at
the Academy of Actuaries, when I was invited to attend
on behalf of the Academy and actually speak a little
bit at the very first symposium for the Modeling the
Future Challenge, and I was so impressed by what those
(03:07):
high school students were able to do and how well
they were able to present themselves that I said, this
is something I have to get involved with. So I
was helping out with the bottom of the Future challenge,
and then the pandemic rolled around, and I said, Okay,
(03:27):
how can I leverage some of the in person tutoring
that I was doing locally, and got patched into the
Math Motivators program also from the Foundation T shirt I'm wearing,
and we got hooked up for several of several of
those opportunities, which, of course, in twenty twenty twenty one,
(03:52):
we're all entirely virtual. And then I've continued on doing
the virtual work as well. And I know that math
Motivators in a couple of select cities has got a
bunch of volunteers that are doing in person work as well.
So it's been really interesting and a really gratifying way
(04:12):
to volunteer and you know, help help young people achieve
STAM goals and mathematics.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I thought it would be good to start with with
just building the foundations in terms of nonprofits. So when
we think of actuarial employment, the majority of actual employment
happens either in the private sector or typically corporations, some
in the public sector, without say primarily in the private sector,
usually in the for profit world. But I want to
talk a little bit about nonprofits because the actual foundation
(04:45):
be a nonprofit. So when we think, Mike about the
importance of nonprofits specifically for the actuarial profession, like co
describe the importance of nonprofits for a profession like actuarial science.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
From my perspective, there's there's really three important reasons why
why the actuarial profession benefits from having a thriving nonprofit
that represents it. The first one is we're very much
a professional development opportunity for actuaries so regardless of what
program you're volunteering for at the Actuarial Foundation, a lot
(05:21):
of what you're doing is explaining mathematical concepts that are
maybe just a little bit out of reach for the
student that you're working with. And that's of course something
that you know, actuaries do every day, an opportunity to
you know, to engage in that in a maybe a
less stressful environment than you would ordinarily in work. And
(05:42):
of course, you know, when when you're volunteering at the Foundation,
you're interacting with not just the students, but educators and
a lot of your peers as well from other companies,
and so we provide you know, networking opportunities and community
building opportunities and things like that. The other thing, which
is a little less tangible, but very much important, is
(06:06):
having a thriving nonprofit that represents your profession as a
benefit to the entire profession and to everyone who's a
member of that profession. So every time the Actuarial Foundation
helps a student overcome a barrier or work through a
challenge that they're having, or you know, you know, achieve
a goal of theirs academically or personally, that's something that
(06:30):
we all celebrate you know, the foundation celebrates it in
every actuary across the country celebrate that as well, because
you know, they're a part of this community and so
they're a part of what made that opportunity available for
that student to thrive and grow. And then every additional
story that we add to that list of thousands and
thousands of stories over the years really lifts the steam
(06:54):
of the profession in the eyes of the general public.
And then the other thing I would say about the
pipeline is, you know, through our competitions, most specifically our
our middle school competition the Hardest Math Problem and our
high school competition the Modeling the Future Challenge. I don't
have the numbers in front of me, but we have
to be the introduction to actuarial science for ninety five
(07:14):
percent of those students. You know, as Steve pointed out,
you know, there were two students in his school who
went on to become actuaries. But of course these programs
didn't exist at the time. So we have hundreds of
kids or over a thousand kids who compete in those
two competitions every year. That's a lot of people annually
who are not just getting exposure to the actuarial profession,
(07:35):
but getting an opportunity to apply actuarial science to real
world problems that you know, affect them and their families
and their communities. That's a pretty cool thing and a
pretty rare opportunity for students. And of course, not every
student who comes through our programming is going to go
on to become an actuary. But because they're working with
(07:56):
an actuary who's you know, not just coaching them in math,
but also acting as a mentor, many of them will
who otherwise wouldn't have learned about the profession. I think
that's a really cool thing, and you know, it's hard
to quantify, but a real benefit to the profession as
a whole.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I want to echo the success there.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
When I was in high school, I think in my
graduating class, there were two people that had heard of actuaries.
One was me because my father is an actuary.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
The other was a.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Classmate of mine who was very good in math and
decided to go to the College of Insurance. And I
compare that to all of these students in the Modeling
the Future challenge, who are all talking about actual l process,
actual science, and so I think that's a tremendous success
right there, and it really encapsulates what you're saying about
(08:54):
reaching people.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I mentioned STEM briefly in the intro the relevant uns
of STEM education today. One statistic I always like to
mention I actually had to check it today because I
think it's devloved a bit is according to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics, they mentioned that there's three and a
half million STEM jobs available in twenty twenty five, and
I think roughly two million of them are unfilled, largely
(09:19):
due to skill gaps. What it described as skill gaps,
And I know that's a very multifasted concept that goes
all the way back to you know, initial education. You know,
just want to understand and how you see the relevance
of STEM education today. I alluded to the gaps at
least I saw on my end. You know, what are
you seeing in terms of like trying to get that
the relevance of it? Who are you seeing gaps?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Great point, you know, or a great question. The STEM
education nonprofit sphere is pretty crowded actually, you know, there's
a lot of nonprofit organizations dedicated to STEM education. What's
lacking though? When you take a landscape view is nonprofits
that focus on foundation math principles and focus you know,
(10:03):
mostly on math, And from where I sit, I often wonder,
you know, how is a kid going to benefit from
engineering opportunities or high level technology opportunities if they're struggling
with basic algebra, right, we need to help them understand
foundational math principles before they can then go on to
benefit from you know, the myriad other opportunities that are
(10:26):
out there. So that's one thing that's unique about the
Foundation and really really important in terms of, you know,
why why it's important to focus on STEM education. I mean,
of course, the statistic that you just mentioned that that's
where the jobs are. You know, that's that's a pretty
easy line to draw. The only thing I would add
to that is, these are the jobs that provide a
(10:49):
stable income. You know, these are the in demand jobs.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
So when I think about the kids that come through
our program, I mostly think about the kids from underserved communities.
And that's not all we do, but that's just where
my heart is specifically, and so I think about, you know,
what are we doing to help those kids change not
just their trajectories but their family's trajectories too, and making
(11:13):
STEM opportunities tangible to those kids, something that they can
understand and then go on to pursue. That's just so important,
not just you know, for them personally, of course, but also,
as I mentioned before, we face some really profound challenges
as a society. You know, we could we could throw
out all the avenues in which you know, we need
(11:35):
to change our path. Some of them are environmental, some
of them are financial, insurance, stuff like that. So the
more we can prepare the STEM leaders of tomorrow to
tackle those challenges, the better off we all are.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
And something that stood out to me is that, you know,
me and Steve have spoken previously, and Steve made a
very profound statement. I think you said that in today's
you know, to numeracy is as important, and I'm paraphrasing,
is as important that literacy. You know. I thought I
was a very profound statement that pairs up nicely with
(12:11):
what you just said, Mike. Any thoughts on that, Steve?
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yeah, I have.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Always felt that it is important just to be a
participant in today's society.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
It is as important to be literate.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
And have an understanding of civics and society. It's equally
important to have at least a functional understanding of math
and how numbers work, because everything we do is driven
by numbers. Now, this is not high level calculus, it's
basic high school math. But you have to be able
(12:52):
to do that stuff to really be able to function
in society. And that's the thing I have found about
math generally, is that you know, there's always more one,
more than one way to get into a problem and
to solve it. And for each student that way in
might be different, and so the trick is to find
(13:15):
the right way in so that they can see the problem,
feel the problem, go oh okay, I get it now,
and and that is just one of the most immensely
satisfying parts about teaching and tutoring in general, when you
say yes, you know, student finally gets it and and
(13:39):
and then you see the light go off and they
start making all kinds of connections and it's just a
really really cool feeling.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Anyone who's done an actual alexam, well, you don't have
to do actual alexam, but if you're a math major,
anyone knows that multiple solutions, you know, many ways to
solve a single problem. So thanks to a reminder there,
and you know, I'm looking far to circling back with you,
Steve on some of your two touring experience. But just
to to kind of, you know, close this this end
(14:08):
of the conversation, Mike. You know, I didn't mention at
the beginning that the All FROMTH campaign is something that
we wanted to talk about today. That's something that the
Foundation is very heavily focused on. So what what is
the Foundation seeking to accomplish through the All for Math campaign?
And I know earlier you alluded to some programs and
(14:28):
what you know, what relates to that? What are some
of the programs that they are in the most seen,
the most need today?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Sure. Yeah, So annually through the actualar Ail Foundation, we
serve about thirteen thousand kids every year and that's a
number that we're super proud of. That's a lot of
individuals who are benefiting from from our programming. So that's
a really cool thing. Having said that, right now, only
(14:56):
around three percent of actuaries individual actuaries donate to the
Actuarial Foundation and about half that volunteer through our programs.
So we don't view those numbers, as you know, we
don't view those numbers negatively. We view those numbers as
an opportunity to reach profoundly more lives. Because despite only
(15:20):
three percent donating and one and a half percent volunteering,
we're already able to reach thirteen thousand students. Imagine how
many students we're going to be able to reach if
we double those numbers. And that's really what my goal
through the campaign is over the next three years. I'd
like to see six percent of actuaries donating to the
foundation individually and let's just say five percent of actual
(15:43):
is volunteering through the Foundation. I know we have the
capacity to do it, so through the campaign, we're looking
to motivate actuaries to get involved on an individual level.
We're doing that by trying to be a little more
grassroots in our marketing, so bringing the messaging of who
we are as a foundation and success stories of individual
(16:05):
students who've benefited from our programming, bringing those stories to
actuaries where they are talking more, more and more, not
just like at a high level about you know, the
numbers of students that come through our programs, but really
really painting a picture and sharing individual stories and showing
these students off and talking about specifically what it was
(16:27):
that their volunteer actuary helped them accomplish and how that
benefited them individually, and so yeah, that's really what we're
trying to do through through the campaign, through the Offer
Math campaign, trying to humanize the profession a little bit
and you know, offer actuaries more reasons to get involved
(16:48):
on an individual level.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Thanks for that, And regarding the programs as specific, because
I know you mentioned there are several programs of the
Foundation participates in, So are there any programs in particular
you're focused done that might have the most need from
volunteer donor perspective for sure.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Here at the Foundation we have four core programs. We
have our Hardest Math Problem that's an annual competition for
middle school students. We have the Modeling the Future Challenge,
our competition for high school students mostly juniors and seniors,
our Math Motivators tutoring program, and our stem Stars Actual
Scholars program. Right now and probably for the foreseeable future,
(17:25):
the biggest need for volunteers are for our Modeling the
Future Challenge and our Math Motivators tutoring program. So through
Modeling the Future, which you might talk about a little
bit more with Steve, so you know I won't go
into too many details, but we have as many as
three hundred teams every year who compete in the competition,
(17:46):
and each of those teams is working with a volunteer
who is an actuary who is mentoring them and kind
of coaching them in the competition. Also, every round of
the competition is adjudicated by actuaries, and so if we
have that many teams competing, you can imagine how many
volunteers we need to judge the competition and to work
(18:06):
directly with these students. Right. We're really grateful to the
current volunteers we have because many of our mentors are
working with more than one team because that's what we
need them to do. And many of our adjudicators are
judging maybe more student submissions than they'd like to. So
(18:27):
if we could sort of spread out that a little
bit more, the volunteer opportunities is more manageable and you know,
more satisfying I think for our volunteers. Math Motivators is
the other program where we really have a serious need
for volunteers. So during the pandemic, we shifted our model
from in person tutoring to virtual tutoring out of necessity
(18:51):
we were really happy with how quickly we were able
to pivot and really happy to continue offering those servants
services uninterrupted. Earlier this year, we made the choice to
really put our foot on the gas in terms of
trying to return all of our tutoring programming back to
in person and we did that because the outcomes for
(19:13):
the students are significantly better when you're tutoring in person,
and the levels of satisfaction for our volunteers our tutors
is also significantly higher. And so you know, with that
in mind, we shuddered a number of our virtual programs
and really put a lot more effort into the schools
(19:34):
where we were working in person. However, due to hybrid
work environments, it's been a real challenge for us to
get folks to volunteer for in person opportunities. So, you know,
if you're working from home two or three two or
three days a week, it's a real tall ask for
us to say, hey, how about you drive into the
city to tutor a couple kids for an hour and
(19:55):
then drive back home to finish your work day. So
we've struggled to keep up with the demand. However, we're
still committed to making the push to returning to in
person because it's it's a superior way of doing the
tutoring for sure. So right now we're looking for tutors
mostly in Philadelphia, Hartford, and Des Moines. Those are our
(20:21):
areas where we have the biggest need right now.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Thanks frind saying this is going to ask that because
I was curious to them, there was a geographic concentration
which sounds like those are the three three key areas.
It's Philadelphia, Hartford and Des Moines those three.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
And the great thing about that is there's an awful
lot of actuaries in those three communities. So you know,
I think there's a lot of potential for us to
fill the need. But you know that the unfortunate thing
is about those communities, they're the amount of need that
there is. Those are all really big population centers, of course,
and you know it's no secret that nationally and especially
(20:56):
in those urban communities, math scores post pandemic have really
been a big problem and continue to slide in the
wrong direction. So you know, we really need to be
reaching out to those kids and getting them the individual
help they need to catch back up.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Okay, well, thanks for that, Mike, I'd love to bring
Steve into the conversation now. So we talked a lot
about the foundation stem education. You know, several things our
own math and actuarial but one thing that we mentioned
consistently throughout the course of this podcast is the idea
of volunteering. And if you think of the actuarial profession.
(21:34):
I know, Steve, you have experience with the Academy. I
am a CAS member. I volunteered on committees before. You know,
the profession largely is run on volunteers, you know, whether
it's writing exams, greating exams, so volunteering, so in some
ways it's like a part of the lifeblood of the profession.
But you know, when you're asking folks to volunteer, one
(21:56):
natural question they may ask is why. And you know,
so I'd just love to to get your thoughts, Steve.
You know you you're an active volunteer, You've been doing
it for a long time, you have plenty of experience.
So how do you think of the value of volunteering
from your perspective?
Speaker 3 (22:11):
A couple of things.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Part of it is is upgrading, up upbringing. I grew
up in a situation where volunteering was important and it
has always been something that is important to me and
a variety of contexts. It really helps you feel like
you're a member of a community, whatever that community is,
(22:38):
and and it's really wonderful to be in a place
where your material needs are taken care of by your
paid job and then you can kind of express your
support and gratitude in the community. It's really helps, I think,
(22:58):
with with actual science and math specifically, I think it
really helps solidify all the concepts I think it having
to explain things to somebody else, or to think about
how things actually work and sort of get out of
the day to day demands of what your job is
asking you to do.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Also means that I think.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
It sharpens your skills. It makes you think about how
things are constructed, and you know, I've always thought that
probably the best way to learn something is to have
to teach it, and so there's just a whole lot
of personal satisfaction. It broadens your horizons. It means that
(23:44):
you're seeing a much broader perspective of things. It sharpens
your skills. Like I said, I feel good doing it.
I really do enjoy it, and you know, just I
would encourage everybody who's listening to to find the niche
(24:04):
that works for you.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
But it is always I think it's a great thing
to do, you know, personally and professionally.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
And I'll add to that, I thought about this this beforehand,
you know, in preparation for the interview. I've had the
opportunity to volunteer in a variety of environments. The first
time I can think of formally is when I was
working my first company. More internally, I wouldn't say like
in the necessarily broader community, but even internally, I was
in the leadership program at my first company, and I
(24:36):
volunteered to do training for the interns. And like, when
I think of volunteering, like you know, if you have
any apprehension about it, think everyth as being mutually beneficial.
I think it's mutually beneficial because it's not just helping.
As Steve mentioned, it's not just helping the person who
you're helping, but it's helping you to sharpen your skills.
So when I was preparing those trainings, I had to
(24:57):
you know, really it was I remember the training I
think was on reserving at the time, and I was
I was young in my career, so I was still
still learning it, so it was as good to help
me solidify and build a good foundation within that space,
which I've taken with me throughout my career. Another avenue
I've used this I've done maybe a litle bit innovatively
through Instagram. So Instagram has a story feature where you
(25:21):
can do a Q and A session, and I've done
virtual Q and A is probably at least at this
point over a thousand of them over the past three
or four years. And being able to answer questions for
students around the world, and you know, other than of
course just contributing to the profession as I would want again,
helps me not just to sharpen my skills, but to
(25:41):
really understand, you know, what's happening in the global acturooral community.
So that's been very enriching for me as well. And
also had the opportunity in the past to teach, to
do tutoring like Steve mentioned, which is very fulfilling. So,
you know, great opportunities to volunteer, and on both ends,
I think it can be mutually benefit which is something
I just wanted to reatery. No tying it back to
(26:03):
the foundation itself, let's talk about you know, you've had.
You're an active volunteer and you've volunteered for a few programs.
Let's talk about some of the you know, the specific
nature of the volunteering that you've done. I know you've done.
You've worked both with the Math Motivators program and the
Modeling the Future Challenge. So I just love to learn
a little bit about your experience, you know, what that
(26:23):
looked like and some of the things you might have done.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
I got an email from somewhere saying, hey, we're looking
for volunteer tutors. I said, okay, well I do that,
and got hooked up through the Math Motivators through and
have participated in a number of different virtual programs there.
(26:48):
There's a there's some summer tutoring.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
That that we did remotely. There was kind of one
on one almost homework help that we did.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
There's been some s a t act prep, and I
have actually done all of those things on my own
locally as well. So all told, gosh, thirty fifty students
maybe more over the years between those two programs, and
(27:27):
you know, that's just it's been really gratifying, particularly if
you have kids that are coming in. It's like, oh,
I can't do this, and it's all I'm all confused,
and then you just kind of walk them through step
by step and then by the end.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
You know they're banging it out.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Recently, virtually we've been using the through the Foundation, the
IXL online training tool, which kind of presents the students
some diagnostic and that presents some students with some increasingly
difficult problems in areas and kind of teach it.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Brings them along slowly.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
That has been fairly successful, particularly if the students come
in and are willing to do a little bit of work.
Sometimes they need a little bit of explanation just to
get over the hump, but then once they do, you
start seeing them build up some speed.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
So that's really fun to see. The modeling the Future challenge.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
It fit very nicely with sort of my professional interest
which goes back probably thirty thirty five years in how
models are constructed.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
In the process of constructing.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
Models, the idea that you need to be very clear
about what it is you're measuring and what it is
you're modeling, and how you might interpret your results. Not actually,
you know, not so much constructing particular models, but sort
of how the whole process works. The way the competition
works is in the early fall, the teams go through
(29:15):
kind of some warm up stuff to sort of teach
them about the basics of the actual process, and then
they submit a project proposal. Those that complete all that
work are chosen as semi finalists in early December, and
then they have from then until early March to actually
(29:36):
prepare their projects. During that time, they get two or
three meetings with an actual el mentor one hour meeting
just to kind of help them through the process, help
them conceptualize their ideas. So I've had for the past
several years between six and eight teams that I'm mentoring.
(30:00):
We get on a zoom call, we have a talk
about what they're doing. I help them kind of conceptualize
their projects, or help with their data or help with
their interpretations whatever. And then so then they submit these
project reports. It's a twenty five page report. It's broken
(30:24):
down into some very specific sections and all in line
with the actual process guide, which I'll talk about in
the second And then for the last five or six years,
I've been a judge also for these project submissions, and
(30:49):
that is.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Kind of it's well organized.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
There's a big scoring rubric that's also made very clear
to the students, and it's reading through all the reports and.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Saying, Okay, how do you do?
Speaker 4 (31:06):
And then the last three four years, I've also been
a finalist judge for the symposium, which means more reports
to read, because the students that are selected as finalists
get an opportunity to redo their reports and resubmit them.
They also have to submit a video, and then we
(31:29):
spend three days with twenty minute interviews with each of
the fifteen teams and then meet to figure out who
the winners are. All of that has been enormously satisfying
and enormously amazing to see what it is these kids
are capable of. And it kind of all goes back
(31:52):
to the actual l Process Guide, which is sort of
high school students real first introduction to the idea of
what it means to be an actuary, what it means
to create a model, what.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
It means to.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Make business recommendations based on your model.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
And when I.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
First started doing this, there was an actual process guide
that was there. Last year, when we got through the
judging cycle, a bunch of us thought that.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
We're maybe not giving kids quite the right direction.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
So I volunteered because I'm retired and I have the
time to make some improvement suggestions to the actual Process Guide.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Yeah, I saw the video earlier, and I think the
most important thing with the video is that you create
that pathway to decision making, because ultimately, the actual career
is a business profession. It's not I mean methods of foundation.
Ultimately it's our business profession and it's tied to decision making.
Business decision making.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Decision making under conditions of uncertainty.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Thanks for the caveat, yes, which is.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
Really important because most of life is uncertain and that's
the beauty of the actual process is it gives you.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
A really sound method for.
Speaker 4 (33:27):
Conceptualizing exactly what that decision is, what those uncertainties.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Are, and how you can make.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Your best informed decision about whatever.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
It is you have to decide.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Excellent. So, in closing, I just want to summarize some
of the things that I took away from the conversation.
So the first is that STEM medication, the STEM feelers
as relevant as it's ever been. There's huge opportunities in
the market in today's world, numerousies as it is as
relevant as literacy. So numeracy is the new literacy if
(34:06):
I had to coin act the expression. You know, the
actual foundation as a nonprofit is helping to elevate the
esteem of the profession on a global scale, and that
does present volunteer opportunities through programs such as Math Motivators
to you know, help young children with math and SAT prep,
(34:30):
et cetera. And the Model Modeling the Future Challenge to
give them practical applications of acter real science and perhaps
they're the intro to the career itself. So I just
maybe in closing, Mike, I just want to to ask
for folks who are interested in volunteering or donating, how
(34:52):
can they get involved? Is there a website or like,
you know, how can they get involved to donate or
to volunteer.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah, I think we make it as easy as possible
to volunteer and donate through the ACT Royal Foundation because
we are entirely driven by the generosity of our volunteers
and donors. Right, as I mentioned, we serve thirteen thousand
kids every year and we do that with you know,
a staff of around a dozen people.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
So it's prett you know, pretty clear that we're.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
A volunteer driven organization, So you can visit our website
Acturoyalfoundation dot org. You can find us on all the
socials if that's how you prefer to do things, But
you know, the web website can be a one stop shop.
We have information about all of our programs, we have
success stories from you know, students who've come through our programs,
and right there, of course, we offer you the opportunity
(35:44):
to make a donation or to sign up and volunteer,
which I hope you were all encouraged to do. Who
are viewing this today, If you need any extra motivation,
just look at how Steve's face lit up. So he
discussed what it was like to volunteer and help students
through our program.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
So it's a really really cool thing to do.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
I think I think your dog agrees. I'm not sure
whose dog that is, but we'll take that as a
sign of affirmation.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
But Canada Canada Goose outside that she's got a real
problem with.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
One more thing I'll add is is I'm going to
leave a link in in in the comments for the
YouTube video, which will you know take you take you
to a landing page where folks can volunteer. So just
wants to add that there I want to thank you
for your time, Mike and Steve, so there's a great
conversation and looking forward to help to promote, to continue
to promote the Alphamat campaign. And I hope you both
(36:39):
have a wonderful rest of the day and let's keep
in touch.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
That's great, thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Thank you
I'm very excited to be featuring the Alpha Math campaign
on behalf of the Actuarial Foundation, and I just wanted
to say a few things before we speak to our guests.
The first thing is the important of STEM education is
a topic I'm very passionate about, being an actuarial profession
and having a very rich history with MATH. I'm actually
(00:21):
a past scholar of the actual Foundation, so I have
a very strong connection to the organization that is a
lot of good and we'll be learning about them throughout
the course of the episode. And also there's a very
strong alignment between some of the work I've been doing
with my personal brand, Maverick Actuary, in terms of advancing
the actuarial profession on a global scale. So very excited
(00:43):
about this episode and would love to introduce our guests.
So first we have Mike Marion, director of Development at
the Actuarial Foundation, and we also have Steve Alpert, who's
a retired actuary, the former president of the American Academy
of Actuaries, and an active volunteer at the Actuarial Foundation.
(01:04):
So I'd love love to give you you guys a
chance to introduce yourself. So we'll start with with Mike.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Hi, thank you so much. As you said, my name
is Michael Marion, the director of development here at the Foundation,
and uh, it's a real honor to be with you
both today. I appreciate the invitation and really excited for
the chance to talk about the exciting work that we
do with the Foundation and you know, talk about some
of the ways that we're helping young people achieve their
(01:31):
goals in math education is something that wasn't always very
important to me. It wasn't until I was probably a
junior senior in high school where I started to realize
how important this this really is and how it might
just affect my future a little bit. And you know,
as I got older and grew, I all of a sudden,
(01:55):
you know, I started to realize all the ways that
my life was changed by the various opportunities that I had.
So it's a real joy to be able to work
at an organization that provides that kind of help for
young people, to help them change their trajectories, help them
achieve their goals, and you help them improve themselves.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Excellent, Thank you, Mike. How about you, Steve.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Well kind of a different story.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
I come at this from the volunteer angle, and like
the two of you actually really feel that it is
important that we can do what we can do for
our community. I've always had a whole lot of volunteering.
The actual Foundation was not something that was really a
(02:46):
whole lot on my radar until my presidential year at
the Academy of Actuaries, when I was invited to attend
on behalf of the Academy and actually speak a little
bit at the very first symposium for the Modeling the
Future Challenge, and I was so impressed by what those
(03:07):
high school students were able to do and how well
they were able to present themselves that I said, this
is something I have to get involved with. So I
was helping out with the bottom of the Future challenge,
and then the pandemic rolled around, and I said, Okay,
(03:27):
how can I leverage some of the in person tutoring
that I was doing locally, and got patched into the
Math Motivators program also from the Foundation T shirt I'm wearing,
and we got hooked up for several of several of
those opportunities, which, of course, in twenty twenty twenty one,
(03:52):
we're all entirely virtual. And then I've continued on doing
the virtual work as well. And I know that math
Motivators in a couple of select cities has got a
bunch of volunteers that are doing in person work as well.
So it's been really interesting and a really gratifying way
(04:12):
to volunteer and you know, help help young people achieve
STAM goals and mathematics.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I thought it would be good to start with with
just building the foundations in terms of nonprofits. So when
we think of actuarial employment, the majority of actual employment
happens either in the private sector or typically corporations, some
in the public sector, without say primarily in the private sector,
usually in the for profit world. But I want to
talk a little bit about nonprofits because the actual foundation
(04:45):
be a nonprofit. So when we think, Mike about the
importance of nonprofits specifically for the actuarial profession, like co
describe the importance of nonprofits for a profession like actuarial science.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
From my perspective, there's there's really three important reasons why
why the actuarial profession benefits from having a thriving nonprofit
that represents it. The first one is we're very much
a professional development opportunity for actuaries so regardless of what
program you're volunteering for at the Actuarial Foundation, a lot
(05:21):
of what you're doing is explaining mathematical concepts that are
maybe just a little bit out of reach for the
student that you're working with. And that's of course something
that you know, actuaries do every day, an opportunity to
you know, to engage in that in a maybe a
less stressful environment than you would ordinarily in work. And
(05:42):
of course, you know, when when you're volunteering at the Foundation,
you're interacting with not just the students, but educators and
a lot of your peers as well from other companies,
and so we provide you know, networking opportunities and community
building opportunities and things like that. The other thing, which
is a little less tangible, but very much important, is
(06:06):
having a thriving nonprofit that represents your profession as a
benefit to the entire profession and to everyone who's a
member of that profession. So every time the Actuarial Foundation
helps a student overcome a barrier or work through a
challenge that they're having, or you know, you know, achieve
a goal of theirs academically or personally, that's something that
(06:30):
we all celebrate you know, the foundation celebrates it in
every actuary across the country celebrate that as well, because
you know, they're a part of this community and so
they're a part of what made that opportunity available for
that student to thrive and grow. And then every additional
story that we add to that list of thousands and
thousands of stories over the years really lifts the steam
(06:54):
of the profession in the eyes of the general public.
And then the other thing I would say about the
pipeline is, you know, through our competitions, most specifically our
our middle school competition the Hardest Math Problem and our
high school competition the Modeling the Future Challenge. I don't
have the numbers in front of me, but we have
to be the introduction to actuarial science for ninety five
(07:14):
percent of those students. You know, as Steve pointed out,
you know, there were two students in his school who
went on to become actuaries. But of course these programs
didn't exist at the time. So we have hundreds of
kids or over a thousand kids who compete in those
two competitions every year. That's a lot of people annually
who are not just getting exposure to the actuarial profession,
(07:35):
but getting an opportunity to apply actuarial science to real
world problems that you know, affect them and their families
and their communities. That's a pretty cool thing and a
pretty rare opportunity for students. And of course, not every
student who comes through our programming is going to go
on to become an actuary. But because they're working with
(07:56):
an actuary who's you know, not just coaching them in math,
but also acting as a mentor, many of them will
who otherwise wouldn't have learned about the profession. I think
that's a really cool thing, and you know, it's hard
to quantify, but a real benefit to the profession as
a whole.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I want to echo the success there.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
When I was in high school, I think in my
graduating class, there were two people that had heard of actuaries.
One was me because my father is an actuary.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
The other was a.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Classmate of mine who was very good in math and
decided to go to the College of Insurance. And I
compare that to all of these students in the Modeling
the Future challenge, who are all talking about actual l process,
actual science, and so I think that's a tremendous success
right there, and it really encapsulates what you're saying about
(08:54):
reaching people.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I mentioned STEM briefly in the intro the relevant uns
of STEM education today. One statistic I always like to
mention I actually had to check it today because I
think it's devloved a bit is according to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics, they mentioned that there's three and a
half million STEM jobs available in twenty twenty five, and
I think roughly two million of them are unfilled, largely
(09:19):
due to skill gaps. What it described as skill gaps,
And I know that's a very multifasted concept that goes
all the way back to you know, initial education. You know,
just want to understand and how you see the relevance
of STEM education today. I alluded to the gaps at
least I saw on my end. You know, what are
you seeing in terms of like trying to get that
the relevance of it? Who are you seeing gaps?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Great point, you know, or a great question. The STEM
education nonprofit sphere is pretty crowded actually, you know, there's
a lot of nonprofit organizations dedicated to STEM education. What's
lacking though? When you take a landscape view is nonprofits
that focus on foundation math principles and focus you know,
(10:03):
mostly on math, And from where I sit, I often wonder,
you know, how is a kid going to benefit from
engineering opportunities or high level technology opportunities if they're struggling
with basic algebra, right, we need to help them understand
foundational math principles before they can then go on to
benefit from you know, the myriad other opportunities that are
(10:26):
out there. So that's one thing that's unique about the
Foundation and really really important in terms of, you know,
why why it's important to focus on STEM education. I mean,
of course, the statistic that you just mentioned that that's
where the jobs are. You know, that's that's a pretty
easy line to draw. The only thing I would add
to that is, these are the jobs that provide a
(10:49):
stable income. You know, these are the in demand jobs.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
So when I think about the kids that come through
our program, I mostly think about the kids from underserved communities.
And that's not all we do, but that's just where
my heart is specifically, and so I think about, you know,
what are we doing to help those kids change not
just their trajectories but their family's trajectories too, and making
(11:13):
STEM opportunities tangible to those kids, something that they can
understand and then go on to pursue. That's just so important,
not just you know, for them personally, of course, but also,
as I mentioned before, we face some really profound challenges
as a society. You know, we could we could throw
out all the avenues in which you know, we need
(11:35):
to change our path. Some of them are environmental, some
of them are financial, insurance, stuff like that. So the
more we can prepare the STEM leaders of tomorrow to
tackle those challenges, the better off we all are.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
And something that stood out to me is that, you know,
me and Steve have spoken previously, and Steve made a
very profound statement. I think you said that in today's
you know, to numeracy is as important, and I'm paraphrasing,
is as important that literacy. You know. I thought I
was a very profound statement that pairs up nicely with
(12:11):
what you just said, Mike. Any thoughts on that, Steve?
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yeah, I have.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Always felt that it is important just to be a
participant in today's society.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
It is as important to be literate.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
And have an understanding of civics and society. It's equally
important to have at least a functional understanding of math
and how numbers work, because everything we do is driven
by numbers. Now, this is not high level calculus, it's
basic high school math. But you have to be able
(12:52):
to do that stuff to really be able to function
in society. And that's the thing I have found about
math generally, is that you know, there's always more one,
more than one way to get into a problem and
to solve it. And for each student that way in
might be different, and so the trick is to find
(13:15):
the right way in so that they can see the problem,
feel the problem, go oh okay, I get it now,
and and that is just one of the most immensely
satisfying parts about teaching and tutoring in general, when you
say yes, you know, student finally gets it and and
(13:39):
and then you see the light go off and they
start making all kinds of connections and it's just a
really really cool feeling.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Anyone who's done an actual alexam, well, you don't have
to do actual alexam, but if you're a math major,
anyone knows that multiple solutions, you know, many ways to
solve a single problem. So thanks to a reminder there,
and you know, I'm looking far to circling back with you,
Steve on some of your two touring experience. But just
to to kind of, you know, close this this end
(14:08):
of the conversation, Mike. You know, I didn't mention at
the beginning that the All FROMTH campaign is something that
we wanted to talk about today. That's something that the
Foundation is very heavily focused on. So what what is
the Foundation seeking to accomplish through the All for Math campaign?
And I know earlier you alluded to some programs and
(14:28):
what you know, what relates to that? What are some
of the programs that they are in the most seen,
the most need today?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Sure. Yeah, So annually through the actualar Ail Foundation, we
serve about thirteen thousand kids every year and that's a
number that we're super proud of. That's a lot of
individuals who are benefiting from from our programming. So that's
a really cool thing. Having said that, right now, only
(14:56):
around three percent of actuaries individual actuaries donate to the
Actuarial Foundation and about half that volunteer through our programs.
So we don't view those numbers, as you know, we
don't view those numbers negatively. We view those numbers as
an opportunity to reach profoundly more lives. Because despite only
(15:20):
three percent donating and one and a half percent volunteering,
we're already able to reach thirteen thousand students. Imagine how
many students we're going to be able to reach if
we double those numbers. And that's really what my goal
through the campaign is over the next three years. I'd
like to see six percent of actuaries donating to the
foundation individually and let's just say five percent of actual
(15:43):
is volunteering through the Foundation. I know we have the
capacity to do it, so through the campaign, we're looking
to motivate actuaries to get involved on an individual level.
We're doing that by trying to be a little more
grassroots in our marketing, so bringing the messaging of who
we are as a foundation and success stories of individual
(16:05):
students who've benefited from our programming, bringing those stories to
actuaries where they are talking more, more and more, not
just like at a high level about you know, the
numbers of students that come through our programs, but really
really painting a picture and sharing individual stories and showing
these students off and talking about specifically what it was
(16:27):
that their volunteer actuary helped them accomplish and how that
benefited them individually, and so yeah, that's really what we're
trying to do through through the campaign, through the Offer
Math campaign, trying to humanize the profession a little bit
and you know, offer actuaries more reasons to get involved
(16:48):
on an individual level.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Thanks for that, And regarding the programs as specific, because
I know you mentioned there are several programs of the
Foundation participates in, So are there any programs in particular
you're focused done that might have the most need from
volunteer donor perspective for sure.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Here at the Foundation we have four core programs. We
have our Hardest Math Problem that's an annual competition for
middle school students. We have the Modeling the Future Challenge,
our competition for high school students mostly juniors and seniors,
our Math Motivators tutoring program, and our stem Stars Actual
Scholars program. Right now and probably for the foreseeable future,
(17:25):
the biggest need for volunteers are for our Modeling the
Future Challenge and our Math Motivators tutoring program. So through
Modeling the Future, which you might talk about a little
bit more with Steve, so you know I won't go
into too many details, but we have as many as
three hundred teams every year who compete in the competition,
(17:46):
and each of those teams is working with a volunteer
who is an actuary who is mentoring them and kind
of coaching them in the competition. Also, every round of
the competition is adjudicated by actuaries, and so if we
have that many teams competing, you can imagine how many
volunteers we need to judge the competition and to work
(18:06):
directly with these students. Right. We're really grateful to the
current volunteers we have because many of our mentors are
working with more than one team because that's what we
need them to do. And many of our adjudicators are
judging maybe more student submissions than they'd like to. So
(18:27):
if we could sort of spread out that a little
bit more, the volunteer opportunities is more manageable and you know,
more satisfying I think for our volunteers. Math Motivators is
the other program where we really have a serious need
for volunteers. So during the pandemic, we shifted our model
from in person tutoring to virtual tutoring out of necessity
(18:51):
we were really happy with how quickly we were able
to pivot and really happy to continue offering those servants
services uninterrupted. Earlier this year, we made the choice to
really put our foot on the gas in terms of
trying to return all of our tutoring programming back to
in person and we did that because the outcomes for
(19:13):
the students are significantly better when you're tutoring in person,
and the levels of satisfaction for our volunteers our tutors
is also significantly higher. And so you know, with that
in mind, we shuddered a number of our virtual programs
and really put a lot more effort into the schools
(19:34):
where we were working in person. However, due to hybrid
work environments, it's been a real challenge for us to
get folks to volunteer for in person opportunities. So, you know,
if you're working from home two or three two or
three days a week, it's a real tall ask for
us to say, hey, how about you drive into the
city to tutor a couple kids for an hour and
(19:55):
then drive back home to finish your work day. So
we've struggled to keep up with the demand. However, we're
still committed to making the push to returning to in
person because it's it's a superior way of doing the
tutoring for sure. So right now we're looking for tutors
mostly in Philadelphia, Hartford, and Des Moines. Those are our
(20:21):
areas where we have the biggest need right now.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Thanks frind saying this is going to ask that because
I was curious to them, there was a geographic concentration
which sounds like those are the three three key areas.
It's Philadelphia, Hartford and Des Moines those three.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
And the great thing about that is there's an awful
lot of actuaries in those three communities. So you know,
I think there's a lot of potential for us to
fill the need. But you know that the unfortunate thing
is about those communities, they're the amount of need that
there is. Those are all really big population centers, of course,
and you know it's no secret that nationally and especially
(20:56):
in those urban communities, math scores post pandemic have really
been a big problem and continue to slide in the
wrong direction. So you know, we really need to be
reaching out to those kids and getting them the individual
help they need to catch back up.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Okay, well, thanks for that, Mike, I'd love to bring
Steve into the conversation now. So we talked a lot
about the foundation stem education. You know, several things our
own math and actuarial but one thing that we mentioned
consistently throughout the course of this podcast is the idea
of volunteering. And if you think of the actuarial profession.
(21:34):
I know, Steve, you have experience with the Academy. I
am a CAS member. I volunteered on committees before. You know,
the profession largely is run on volunteers, you know, whether
it's writing exams, greating exams, so volunteering, so in some
ways it's like a part of the lifeblood of the profession.
But you know, when you're asking folks to volunteer, one
(21:56):
natural question they may ask is why. And you know,
so I'd just love to to get your thoughts, Steve.
You know you you're an active volunteer, You've been doing
it for a long time, you have plenty of experience.
So how do you think of the value of volunteering
from your perspective?
Speaker 3 (22:11):
A couple of things.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Part of it is is upgrading, up upbringing. I grew
up in a situation where volunteering was important and it
has always been something that is important to me and
a variety of contexts. It really helps you feel like
you're a member of a community, whatever that community is,
(22:38):
and and it's really wonderful to be in a place
where your material needs are taken care of by your
paid job and then you can kind of express your
support and gratitude in the community. It's really helps, I think,
(22:58):
with with actual science and math specifically, I think it
really helps solidify all the concepts I think it having
to explain things to somebody else, or to think about
how things actually work and sort of get out of
the day to day demands of what your job is
asking you to do.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Also means that I think.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
It sharpens your skills. It makes you think about how
things are constructed, and you know, I've always thought that
probably the best way to learn something is to have
to teach it, and so there's just a whole lot
of personal satisfaction. It broadens your horizons. It means that
(23:44):
you're seeing a much broader perspective of things. It sharpens
your skills. Like I said, I feel good doing it.
I really do enjoy it, and you know, just I
would encourage everybody who's listening to to find the niche
(24:04):
that works for you.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
But it is always I think it's a great thing
to do, you know, personally and professionally.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
And I'll add to that, I thought about this this beforehand,
you know, in preparation for the interview. I've had the
opportunity to volunteer in a variety of environments. The first
time I can think of formally is when I was
working my first company. More internally, I wouldn't say like
in the necessarily broader community, but even internally, I was
in the leadership program at my first company, and I
(24:36):
volunteered to do training for the interns. And like, when
I think of volunteering, like you know, if you have
any apprehension about it, think everyth as being mutually beneficial.
I think it's mutually beneficial because it's not just helping.
As Steve mentioned, it's not just helping the person who
you're helping, but it's helping you to sharpen your skills.
So when I was preparing those trainings, I had to
(24:57):
you know, really it was I remember the training I
think was on reserving at the time, and I was
I was young in my career, so I was still
still learning it, so it was as good to help
me solidify and build a good foundation within that space,
which I've taken with me throughout my career. Another avenue
I've used this I've done maybe a litle bit innovatively
through Instagram. So Instagram has a story feature where you
(25:21):
can do a Q and A session, and I've done
virtual Q and A is probably at least at this
point over a thousand of them over the past three
or four years. And being able to answer questions for
students around the world, and you know, other than of
course just contributing to the profession as I would want again,
helps me not just to sharpen my skills, but to
(25:41):
really understand, you know, what's happening in the global acturooral community.
So that's been very enriching for me as well. And
also had the opportunity in the past to teach, to
do tutoring like Steve mentioned, which is very fulfilling. So,
you know, great opportunities to volunteer, and on both ends,
I think it can be mutually benefit which is something
I just wanted to reatery. No tying it back to
(26:03):
the foundation itself, let's talk about you know, you've had.
You're an active volunteer and you've volunteered for a few programs.
Let's talk about some of the you know, the specific
nature of the volunteering that you've done. I know you've done.
You've worked both with the Math Motivators program and the
Modeling the Future Challenge. So I just love to learn
a little bit about your experience, you know, what that
(26:23):
looked like and some of the things you might have done.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
I got an email from somewhere saying, hey, we're looking
for volunteer tutors. I said, okay, well I do that,
and got hooked up through the Math Motivators through and
have participated in a number of different virtual programs there.
(26:48):
There's a there's some summer tutoring.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
That that we did remotely. There was kind of one
on one almost homework help that we did.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
There's been some s a t act prep, and I
have actually done all of those things on my own
locally as well. So all told, gosh, thirty fifty students
maybe more over the years between those two programs, and
(27:27):
you know, that's just it's been really gratifying, particularly if
you have kids that are coming in. It's like, oh,
I can't do this, and it's all I'm all confused,
and then you just kind of walk them through step
by step and then by the end.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
You know they're banging it out.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Recently, virtually we've been using the through the Foundation, the
IXL online training tool, which kind of presents the students
some diagnostic and that presents some students with some increasingly
difficult problems in areas and kind of teach it.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Brings them along slowly.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
That has been fairly successful, particularly if the students come
in and are willing to do a little bit of work.
Sometimes they need a little bit of explanation just to
get over the hump, but then once they do, you
start seeing them build up some speed.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
So that's really fun to see. The modeling the Future challenge.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
It fit very nicely with sort of my professional interest
which goes back probably thirty thirty five years in how
models are constructed.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
In the process of constructing.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
Models, the idea that you need to be very clear
about what it is you're measuring and what it is
you're modeling, and how you might interpret your results. Not actually,
you know, not so much constructing particular models, but sort
of how the whole process works. The way the competition
works is in the early fall, the teams go through
(29:15):
kind of some warm up stuff to sort of teach
them about the basics of the actual process, and then
they submit a project proposal. Those that complete all that
work are chosen as semi finalists in early December, and
then they have from then until early March to actually
(29:36):
prepare their projects. During that time, they get two or
three meetings with an actual el mentor one hour meeting
just to kind of help them through the process, help
them conceptualize their ideas. So I've had for the past
several years between six and eight teams that I'm mentoring.
(30:00):
We get on a zoom call, we have a talk
about what they're doing. I help them kind of conceptualize
their projects, or help with their data or help with
their interpretations whatever. And then so then they submit these
project reports. It's a twenty five page report. It's broken
(30:24):
down into some very specific sections and all in line
with the actual process guide, which I'll talk about in
the second And then for the last five or six years,
I've been a judge also for these project submissions, and
(30:49):
that is.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Kind of it's well organized.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
There's a big scoring rubric that's also made very clear
to the students, and it's reading through all the reports and.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Saying, Okay, how do you do?
Speaker 4 (31:06):
And then the last three four years, I've also been
a finalist judge for the symposium, which means more reports
to read, because the students that are selected as finalists
get an opportunity to redo their reports and resubmit them.
They also have to submit a video, and then we
(31:29):
spend three days with twenty minute interviews with each of
the fifteen teams and then meet to figure out who
the winners are. All of that has been enormously satisfying
and enormously amazing to see what it is these kids
are capable of. And it kind of all goes back
(31:52):
to the actual l Process Guide, which is sort of
high school students real first introduction to the idea of
what it means to be an actuary, what it means
to create a model, what.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
It means to.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Make business recommendations based on your model.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
And when I.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
First started doing this, there was an actual process guide
that was there. Last year, when we got through the
judging cycle, a bunch of us thought that.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
We're maybe not giving kids quite the right direction.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
So I volunteered because I'm retired and I have the
time to make some improvement suggestions to the actual Process Guide.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Yeah, I saw the video earlier, and I think the
most important thing with the video is that you create
that pathway to decision making, because ultimately, the actual career
is a business profession. It's not I mean methods of foundation.
Ultimately it's our business profession and it's tied to decision making.
Business decision making.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Decision making under conditions of uncertainty.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Thanks for the caveat, yes, which is.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
Really important because most of life is uncertain and that's
the beauty of the actual process is it gives you.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
A really sound method for.
Speaker 4 (33:27):
Conceptualizing exactly what that decision is, what those uncertainties.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Are, and how you can make.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Your best informed decision about whatever.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
It is you have to decide.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Excellent. So, in closing, I just want to summarize some
of the things that I took away from the conversation.
So the first is that STEM medication, the STEM feelers
as relevant as it's ever been. There's huge opportunities in
the market in today's world, numerousies as it is as
relevant as literacy. So numeracy is the new literacy if
(34:06):
I had to coin act the expression. You know, the
actual foundation as a nonprofit is helping to elevate the
esteem of the profession on a global scale, and that
does present volunteer opportunities through programs such as Math Motivators
to you know, help young children with math and SAT prep,
(34:30):
et cetera. And the Model Modeling the Future Challenge to
give them practical applications of acter real science and perhaps
they're the intro to the career itself. So I just
maybe in closing, Mike, I just want to to ask
for folks who are interested in volunteering or donating, how
(34:52):
can they get involved? Is there a website or like,
you know, how can they get involved to donate or
to volunteer.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah, I think we make it as easy as possible
to volunteer and donate through the ACT Royal Foundation because
we are entirely driven by the generosity of our volunteers
and donors. Right, as I mentioned, we serve thirteen thousand
kids every year and we do that with you know,
a staff of around a dozen people.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
So it's prett you know, pretty clear that we're.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
A volunteer driven organization, So you can visit our website
Acturoyalfoundation dot org. You can find us on all the
socials if that's how you prefer to do things, But
you know, the web website can be a one stop shop.
We have information about all of our programs, we have
success stories from you know, students who've come through our programs,
and right there, of course, we offer you the opportunity
(35:44):
to make a donation or to sign up and volunteer,
which I hope you were all encouraged to do. Who
are viewing this today, If you need any extra motivation,
just look at how Steve's face lit up. So he
discussed what it was like to volunteer and help students
through our program.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
So it's a really really cool thing to do.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
I think I think your dog agrees. I'm not sure
whose dog that is, but we'll take that as a
sign of affirmation.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
But Canada Canada Goose outside that she's got a real
problem with.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
One more thing I'll add is is I'm going to
leave a link in in in the comments for the
YouTube video, which will you know take you take you
to a landing page where folks can volunteer. So just
wants to add that there I want to thank you
for your time, Mike and Steve, so there's a great
conversation and looking forward to help to promote, to continue
to promote the Alphamat campaign. And I hope you both
(36:39):
have a wonderful rest of the day and let's keep
in touch.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
That's great, thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Thank you
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