Episode Notes | Episode Transcript | AskTheGuest
Thomas Athey is a student entrepreneur. Thomas is a sophomore at Davidson College and plans to double major in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE), and History.
Thomas is an amiable, driven student entrepreneur. As a student he is pushing himself with his pursuit of the double major.
With the help of The Hurt Hub his entrepreneurial venture has gone to the next level - with mentorship, funding and the like-minded Hub community.
Hi-Fives from the Podcast are:
Episode Title: Thomas Athey on Davidson College: PPE & History, Student Entrepreneurship, and The Hurt Hub Community.
Thomas found entrepreneurship at a young age. He taught himself investing and then along with his best friend started a summer camp for 7, 8th graders to teach them finance and investing. At the end of high school he started Portfolio Kings.
Thomas Athey is a sophomore at Davidson College and plans to double major in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE), and History. Thomas is continuing to build Portfolio Kings at Davidson.
In particular, we discuss the following with him:
Topics discussed in this episode:
Our Guest: Thomas Athey is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE), and History at Davidson College. Thomas is a student entrepreneur building Portfolio Kings. He received the Avinger Impact Fund award from The Hurt Hub.
Memorable Quote: “I don't want to be doing the, you know, the corporate world. So I have to work hard to be able to have this [startup] work, you know.” Thomas on why his venture has to succeed.
Episode Transcript: Please visit Episode’s Transcript.
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Transcript of the episode’s audio.
So like once a week, I would come in here and meet with Liz, who's the director of the hub just on she, she had a very, you know, big background in marketing before coming here. So, and that was kind of something we needed help with. And I spent a lot of time you know, she really helped me kind of learn about the just, yeah, the world of marketing marketing strategies, how to think about that. So spent a lot of time in the summer here. And yeah, that's kind of how I first got involved.
Thomas Athey is a sophomore at Davidson College and plans to double major in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE), and History.
Thomas found entrepreneurship at a young age.
He saw that finance and investing was not being taught in school.
He taught himself investing and then along with his best friend started a summer camp for 7, 8th graders to teach them finance and investing.
In addition to entrepreneurship, Thomas played Tennis and Golf at the varsity level.
Venkat Raman 1:23
Thomas joins us on our podcast to share his experiences so far at Davidson College & The Hurt Hub.
Before we jump into the podcast, here are the High-Fives, Five Highlights from the podcast:
[Overall Experience]
Kind of love that, you know, full college experience right now. So enjoying it. From Chicago, so I love the weather here, it's a lot warmer. And yeah, I have, you know, very happy with all my friends and the people that I'm surrounded by.
[Why Davidson?]
I went to a small all boys school. So, Davidson definitely had, you know, that similar feel. The liberal arts, I really like the liberal arts aspect as well. And the proximity to Charlotte.
[Portfolio Kings - Startup]
We're all sitting at home alone, like let's try to make a community. And so we just kind of started this chat room essentially. And it was it was started with like stocks and options trading. And we also, we had another friend who kind of introduced us to crypto. So we had kind of two sides, like it was more focused on options trading. So your options trading and then crypto.
[Guidance & Grants from The Hurt Hub]
I'd say really the the most beneficial aspect of it to me has been the network. Because, I mean, everyone here just wants to help you know, and it's like, it's in their, you know, their interest to help you and obviously, like, they all everyone here is just super, whether it be the people that actually work here or the other, you know, mentors and whatnot in the network. I found that to be the most helpful just being able to reach out to people that I wouldn't otherwise.
[Advice to Student Entrepreneurs]
I would say the biggest thing is figuring out how to manage your time and be as efficient as possible. Cuz, you know, it is hard and they're like, you're gonna have to sacrifice things. And I guess figuring out like, is that sacrifice worth it?
Venkat Raman 3:32
These were the Hi5s, brought to you by College Matters. Alma Matters.
Venkat Raman 3:43
Now, I'm sure you want to hear the entire podcast with Thomas. So without further ado, here is Thomas Athey!
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Venkat Raman 3:53
Okay, so maybe we can start with how are you finding Davidson what your undergraduate experience has been so far. Give us just sort of an overview of that.
Yeah. Um, so I'm a sophomore at Davidson. You know, obviously, you've had a very strange college experience, you know, being in COVID This year has been a lot better than last. Still some COVID restrictions, but for the most part, able to kind of live that, you know, full college experience right now. So enjoying it from Chicago. I love the weather here. It's a lot warmer. And yeah, I have, you know, very happy with all my friends and the people that I'm surrounded by. So overall, I'm really happy with how things are going at Davidson.
Venkat Raman 4:53
So, why did you pick Davidson? Where do you said you're from Chicago? How do you end up here?
Yeah, so um, I knew I didn't want to go school. In the Midwest, I just figured, like, you know, I mean being, especially from Chicago, where you just there's such a rich network and you know, whatever you do, I figured if I stay in the area, there's a good chance I end up back there. And I just kind of wanted to explore. And I figured college was an opportunity to do that. So I focused on looking at schools in like the south east, like North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee. area. So, yeah, I just applied to schools in that area. And Davidson was one of the better schools I got into. And I just really enjoyed it. I went to a small all boys school. So Davidson definitely had, you know, that similar feel. The liberal arts, I really like the liberal arts aspect as well. And the proximity to Charlotte, like a lot of other schools I was looking at, like, for example, Wake Forest, which is an hour north of here, also a great school, but it's just kind of its own, like the just campus. It's like a gated community, essentially. And I really liked that Davidson has its own community aspect, which is awesome. But then I'm also 25-30 minutes from Charlotte, which, which is great for career opportunities, also to just, you know, go to the city and whatnot. So I like the school. And the location.Yeah.
Venkat Raman 6:41
You mentioned a small, high school. So tell me what you were like in high school? What kind of interests did you have?
Yeah. So I went to an all boys school about 50 Kids in a, 50 Guys in a class. So pretty small school. I really, I started getting I mean, I played sports in high school, I played tennis and golf at the varsity level. And then I played basketball. Just like for fun. So that, you know, sports were definitely time commitment. And then I started getting interested in finance, like, my sophomore year of high school, kind of, I don't know, I'd always really been interested. I remember in like sports, and I was, and I guess business, I was like, Oh, the dream would be to be like a sports agent, you know. And then I was kind of, like, that's kind of hard to get into. But I, the business part always interested me and kind of through that, and just like other mentors in high school, I started, I kind of just was self teaching myself, finance, investing, reading a bunch of books. So I got pretty committed to doing that in high school.
But yeah, like, Overall, I'd say, I don't know, I, you know, small class, so knew everyone. Definitely going to school like that helps you with, with your confidence, you know, everyone has does their own thing. And but you're also just, it was a very close, like brotherhood, essentially. So I played sports was interested in finance and that. Yeah.
Venkat Raman 8:24
You kind of floated a startup. And tell us a little bit about it. Portfolio Kings. Right.
Yeah. So kind of, yeah, essentially, I can give some more context that, you know, through high school, I yeah, as I said, I kind of got interested in, in finance and like investing, trading. And did that. Just kind of Yeah, I don't know, exploring it, learning about it. I enjoyed it, which pushed me It pushed me to continue to learn more. And then, so one thing that has always interested me, is I just think there's a lot of like, lack of financial education. And so kind of as a business idea, but also just to like something that we thought would be a good thing to do my best friend now who was also interested in similar things.
We started a summer camp for rising seventh and eighth graders. So it was a one week like three hours a day for one week in the summer. And we just kind of taught like very basic financial skills and like, what are stocks? What are bonds, just a lot of different basic stuff and kind of help helping them think about one if this is something they're interested in. And like, if you're not, you know, these are skills that you will hopefully use the rest of your life. So through that kind of, I guess that's kind of my first business spent a lot of time on that because we had to work with our high schools administration and because we were the only like students to ever run a summer camp.
Thomas A 9:56
And that kind of definitely got me interested in deeper in all that and especially having to knit like, educate others pushed me to, you know, I really have to know my stuff well. So that kind of built a good basis for me and my best friend from high school, we were both kind of doing this together.
And then during COVID, my son, my senior, my last semester of senior year of high schools when COVID started, and we so we got sent home and just, you know, didn't really have anything to do. And through that we got so my friend he resold like shoes, like Yeezys, and supreme clothing all of high school, so he had some money saved up from doing that. And he couldn't really do that, because it COVID Most of his transactions, like we're in person, and we were just kind of trying to find something and do and there was just a lot going on in the stock market. With, you know, the stock market essentially crashed, and Federal Reserve and the government, you know, giving stimulus and just like a lot going on, which are like really interesting for us. And we were kind of trading and investing a little bit during this time. And having nothing to do just kind of got us deeper into that. And then we started a discord group, because we figured, you know, there's a lot of like, people that probably interest in the same thing.
Thomas A 11:16
And just, we're all sitting at home alone, like, let's try to make a community. And so we just kind of started this chat room, essentially. And it was it was started with like stocks and options trading. And we also, we had another friend who kind of introduced us to crypto. So we had kind of two sides, like it was more focused on options trading, so your options trading and then crypto. And then in options trading itself, there's just a lot there a lot of different strategies. One thing that kind of got us interested in this is that we saw that, you know, when the market had bottomed out a lot of like, you had a couple months of just Green Day, you know, market going up going up, and people were trading really risky, like short term trades that were working in that time. But we knew that like once the markets, you know, cooled off, a lot of people were getting get killed. So we were exploring just like safer ways to trade options and other ways and that so yeah, through that whole process, kind of as we continue to learn, we're building up this group chat. And then at a point we, we had like about 1000 members.
Thomas A 12:26
And we're like, Okay, well, maybe we can monetize this. And also hard to kind of control like you have kind of random people somewhere committed somewhere like not. And so we're like, let's, let's try to make this more professional. So we started just like a monthly membership. And then which you had the chat room, and then that grew too. So I guess that October 2020. Like we started that. And then we also ended up offering a.., two courses. So we made our own courses, we had some written guides, we would do like live workshops and stuff. So kind of just like you paid a monthly membership fee for kind of just a community and educational content focused on options trading or crypto. And now where that's that is we're focusing more on the crypto side of things and kind of offering like crypto consulting services. So essentially, we realize that there's a lot of people that are interested about crypto and maybe don't have the time or don't know where to begin, and we want to help people with that process.
Venkat Raman 13:28
As this is awesome. So this basically started as you were leaving high school, and that summer, actually of 2020. And then you you know, obviously transition to college, Davidson. And then this is continued. So this is fantastic. I mean, I think congratulations, really, to you and your buddies for really pulling this off and continuing. I think continuing is really impressive.
Thomas A 13:56
Yeah. Yeah, I would just, I guess add to that and like, you know, yeah, it is that's part of life. Definitely learned through entrepreneurship. It is a like, such a tough process. And, you know, you can't give up like, we started off when we started. We just got so many people like really quickly. And I think and we were like, Oh, this is gonna be awesome. Like, we're dropping out of school, you know, we're getting all these and then that kind of slowed down and then we were like, Okay, let's, we hired like a marketing agency that was like pretty professional, pretty expensive. We were like, Okay, maybe, you know, we think this will help us get to that next level. And that just didn't work and we spent a lot of money that just didn't pay off. And so you know, it's it's definitely been a journey and you know, still going through it, but it's been awesome, but yeah, it's definitely I've learned a lot as well through the mistakes.
Venkat Raman 14:55
Let's transition from high school to college. What was Like, how did you sort of navigate that? a) Move and b) sort of going to college?
So, um, I Yeah. So coming from, I mean, you know, COVID made everything really weird. But that whole summer essentially, I mean, towards the end of I guess our summer things were opening up a little bit back home. So I don't know, came back came to Davidson. And it, Davidson does something really cool. And I guess, I mean, I've, it's worked for me, and I don't know about other people. But when you apply for your first year housing, you kind of you take like a personality test or whatever, and they try to match. So you don't choose roommate, you get like randomly assigned, but it's based on this test. And then they also try to match your floor, kind of the same way. So I got to Davidson and like, in terms of friends, I found my best, you know, four best friends that were still best friends. Now on the first day of school, my roommate, my other two friends lived next door, and then another. And another person, he was in the same floors, or same building was on the third floor. And we had just reached out because both our parents are from Poland, my mom's from Poland, and his parents were from Poland. So he was like, Oh, we're polish, we reached out. And that kind of, really the first day I had a friend group, which was really awesome, especially during COVID, where, you know, it was I mean, we weren't allowed to have people in our rooms, you can have a single, like, you're essentially no, like, in a prison cell, like no one can come into your room. And it was definitely very, if it wasn't for my friends. And I know, you know, I know people that like left or took the semester off, and they were super strict. Like you'd get if you you know, had someone in your room, you'd get a strike. And if you got two or three strikes, they sent you home. So you know, having my friends was amazing, but it was definitely a tough transition, especially where you're going to just such a higher level of like, academic work, I wouldn't say I would just say, I don't know, I was pushed a lot in high school. But it's just, you know, college is different. And especially when you're like, you have, I guess what was challenging for me was the, you have so much freedom, which is awesome. But you have to make use of that because you only have maybe, you know, one to two hours a class a day. And so, but then you have, you know, way more work out of classes, how do you do that, and especially was hard when, you know, you just all are we started off this semester, all our classes were on Zoom. So you're sitting at your desk all day. And, you know, if you want to go to the library, like you're you have to wear a mask. So it's hard, I don't know, you want to sit there for four or five hours of the mask. And so it's definitely a very weird transition to college. But as I said, I was super grateful for my friends, they they made, you know, we had fun in the process. So I know a lot of people had a lot more difficult time getting, you know, into college, you know, schools in general and specifically Davidson. So in that regard, I guess you know, I can't complain but it was definitely a tough process.
Venkat Raman 18:23
How was the teaching? You mentioned, was it the entire semester, first semester that was on Zoom? Or did you go hybrid?
Yeah, we started I had we started off all on Zoom, I ended up having to on Zoom to two on Zoom one in person and one hybrid. So it was like, yeah, so essentially, yes, like, yeah, two on Zoom one half zoom half in person, one in person. Yeah, the teaching. I mean, I was, you know, Zoom was weird. And it was also the professor's themselves were you know, also obviously not loving that and it was tough for them. But I had yeah, like I had some awesome classes. Davidson makes you do a writing one on one, your first semester. So are your first year can be first or second semester, and you've got all these different topics. And the idea is, like, you know, helps you with writing for college, but it's also kind of serves as like a kind of guide for like, you know, your freshman in college, you know, getting into everything. So you have all these different topics based on your interest. So it could be writing about like math, science, you know, political science, whatever. So mine was writing 101 China. So it was about it was it was really cool politics and like history of China and like us China relations, and it was a really difficult class. But and, you know, I still that's one of the probably I've learned a lot in that class. I took economics 101 Which really pushed me as well. Um, I enjoyed that I took Spanish, which I didn't, didn't love, I thought I originally thought I might minor in Spanish coming into college. Didn't really love that. And then my final class Oh, is that it was a history class, which I liked as well. So, you know, they Well, I liked them, obviously being on Zoom and stuff, made them a little more, you know, maybe less interesting and hard to pay attention. But overall, I enjoyed all those classes and felt like I was pushed and felt like I learned a lot.
Venkat Raman 20:28
How are things now? I mean, the classes, hybrid or in-person?
Thomas A 20:33
Yeah, we're fully in person, the only I think computer science might be the only like, major that's that they're, they're online right now still. But that's just, I guess, ideas, you don't really need to be in person as much, but all my classes are in person.
Venkat Raman 20:53
So when did you get introduced to The Hurt Hub? I mean, what, how did that happen? And tell us a little bit about that.
Yeah. Um, so I actually didn't even I didn't get introduced to until probably like, the last month, maybe even less. Last month, in my freshman year of high school, I think freshmen freshman year, it was like April or something. And I try to think so I, the second semester, my friend group and I, we actually moved off campus, because we were I mean, the rules were just kind of ridiculous. And we found out that we were, we'd be paying half the price. And then the other thing is that, you know, your freshman your dorms typically are the smallest ones on campus. So, you know, we found out that we were paying, we take live off campus that we could if they had like exceptions, because of COVID. So we were able to, we found a house full house where we each had our own room, you know, for half the price of what we're paying for, for staying at Davidson. So we get that. And then kind of through that since I, I get like, I would come to study this. So the herd hub is it's like there's a, it's like a co they call like a co op working space. So we've there's the idea is like, yeah, it's a working space for people to community on also Davidson students, and they have a lot of different stuff here. And so I would just come here and study, just because that was kind of, yeah, I was living off campus, there's an awesome place to study. And I guess I don't know, I think I just maybe saw sign or some or maybe an email I don't know about like, met, you know, entrepreneurship and mentors for your business. And I was like, Okay, well, you know, it wouldn't hurt to try to reach out and, and see what this is about. So, essentially, through that, I just kind of I gave a pitch to the board of kind of men board members. So you come with your, you know, business and explain what it is. And then they choose, they kind of come to you like who can help you, you know, what mentors are related in this field that could help you the most and what not. So I started there. And then I was also I had an internship in Charlotte for six weeks, right when the summer began, so like, once a week, I would come in here and meet with Liz who's the director of the hub just on she, she had a very, you know, big background in marketing before coming here. So and that was kind of something we needed help with. And I spent a lot of time you know, she really helped me kind of learn about the just, yeah, the world of marketing marketing strategies, how to think about that. So spent a lot of time in the summer here. And yeah, that's kind of how I first got involved.
Venkat Raman 23:41
So how's, how's it helping you? I mean, now and what are you doing? In addition to obviously the mentorship that you're getting? How else are you using the Hub?
Yeah, so the kind of the idea they want to provide you with guidance, you know, mentors network, but also capital essentially for your business, whether that be grants or down the line maybe help you with funding and whatnot. So I need that that's been super, I'd say really, the the most beneficial aspect of it to me has been the network because, I mean, everyone here just wants to help you know, and it's like, it's in their you know, their interest to help you and obviously, like they're all everyone here is just super it, whether it be the people that actually work here are the other you know, mentors and what not in the network. I found that to be the most helpful just being able to reach out to people that I wouldn't otherwise and then obviously the money they have there's something called the Try It fund is like the smallest grant it's up to like between 500 and $1,000. And that is like you know, very starting business. Maybe you want to explore something or you need some funding for whatever different Thanks. So we started that, we got that over the summer. And I was able to use that for just trying to explore some different marketing options. And, you know, learned a lot through that. And then the the two biggest grants and I guess investments they offer is the Avinger Fund, which is in the fall, it's a $10,000 grant. And then the Nesbitt, which is in the spring, and that's an investment, like an investment from Davidson College for and you get $25,000. That's obviously much more competitive. So I got the Avinger grant, in the, in the fall along with two other students, and I, that money itself, I haven't haven't spent much of it just because we're kind of we were in around that time in a stage figuring out where we want to take our business, how do we change our business model. And where we're at right now at the crypto consulting, we kind of just launched we actually just like launched our website went live today with that. And so we're kind of, as of right now, there's not really any costs we have. So you know, I don't we don't want to just waste the money just because we have it, we want to spend it as efficiently as we can. So we have that money, and then I'm going to be trying to apply for the Nesbitt award as well in the spring.
Venkat Raman 26:27
Fabulous. Good luck with that. And congratulations on the Avinger.
Thomas A 26:32
Thank you.
Venkat Raman 26:38
How did you pick your major coming in? To Davidson? Or is this something that's still evolving? I think you mentioned PPE and history. So how did that come about?
Yeah, so um, I was really, I thought I was gonna do like, economics coming in, you know, also Davidson, it's a liberal arts school. So in terms of kind of the finance, business stuff, they don't have a business degree, they don't have a finance degree. It's, it's an economics degree. Um, so I thought I would do that. And then I've always been interested in history. And I also think it's just, you know, I enjoy learning it, but I think it's super just valuable to, you know, know why we're, you know, why are we why are we doing we're doing today, it's because of, you know, past events, and I think understanding that can help you understand where we're at now, and maybe the future. So I've always really been interested in history. And I, so I take my, I really thought I was gonna do econ up until the end of like this last the semester. And I so I took econ 101. Freshman year, took another econ class my sophomore year. And then I took micro economics, which they say micro or macro or the weed out classes, and I guess they weeded me out. But yeah, I just, personally, I thought, especially running my own business, and like, knowing that I can get this financial knowledge, and I have that knowledge, and I continue to keep learning. I just felt that economics, there's, I think having, like, a basic understanding is super, super valuable. And like anything you do, but there's not, you know, a lot of it was just like theory and very, like, things that I found, like pretty impractical, like, or, you know, like, for example, micro economics, you know, we're learning like, Oh, if you change the price of, you know, if you have an apple and an orange, and they cost this amount, and the apple changes this, this much like, how, you know, will, what will be like the utility of the person buying it. And I just found that, like, I don't know, unless I'm going to be an economist, I don't think it's, like necessary for me to be successful in the financial world, and especially when, you know, every everyone that's getting this degree, they're going to go to their job and learn on the job, you know, you're not really going to be using your like, you know, microeconomics formulas. So I felt like I didn't need it to, to like have to be be in finance, and I just didn't really enjoy it that much, which kind of made it hard for me to have to like push through for another two and a half years, and it is a very rigorous major. And then so the PPE it stands for politics, philosophy and econ economics. So it's kind of a third of each. I've just, you know, I came in Davidson being interested in the liberal arts and this is like a really kind of liberal arts degree. I'm really interested in politics as well. And philosophy I'd find really interesting. So just It was something that I felt. I mean, I, for one, I enjoy it a lot more. It still has, you know, the economics. And it just kind of gives me a little bit of everything I'm interested in. And so yeah, I guess, excited to learn in that. And I think a lot of degrees, you know, especially I guess at a liberal arts school, like Davidson, like, you're, you're coming here to learn how to think critically, right at the end of the day, no matter and learn how to learn in whatever major you're doing. So if you're gonna, you know, be on the job, like, they know that, you know, you pushed yourself whether it's economics or some other degree, like, it's kind of that critical thinking and knowing that you can learn on the job.
Venkat Raman 30:49
You know, you obviously, a student entrepreneur, putting a lot of energy into that. Are you involved in anything else on campus? Are you in any of the clubs or activities?
I'd say the biggest thing I'm committed outside of this is in like, outside school, my business is the fraternity. So we have we have Greek Life at Davidson. So I'm in Yeah, in a fraternity, and most of my social kind of stuff is through that. So I'd say that's my biggest involvement. I was in default, which is Davidson, like, investments in finance, which invests part of the the Davidson endowment. So just like student run club, I was in that last year, I just, you know, I'm kind of doing the same thing on my own time, so I just didn't really have time for it and didn't find it to be that beneficial to me. But yeah, the really my main commitments here, I guess, would be running my business and then my fraternity
Venkat Raman 32:02
What happened to the sports? What happened to tennis?
Thomas A 32:04
Okay, this year, the sports is what I do. I do. I play, I try to play basketball, like at least once a week, we have intermurals coming up. They start this week. So that should be a lot of fun. That's like we have one game a week. Um, but yeah, I definitely would like to, you know, maybe play some more like something like tennis or golf. I mean, the weather's getting nicer. So I'm sure I'll hopefully be able to maybe go out and golf. But yeah, I wouldn't say those are like, you know, huge commitments, I'm probably spending, you know, two, three hours a week, like sports and stuff. So that's more just kind of fun, stay in shape, you know.
Venkat Raman 32:52
We're starting to wind down. So I wanted to ask you, if you have any advice for aspiring student entrepreneurs, who might be in that same kind of transition from high school to college? What do you think things worth mentioning or Telling them?
Yeah, um, you know, I would say the biggest thing is figuring out how to manage your time and be as efficient as possible. Cuz, you know, it is hard and they're like, you're gonna have to sacrifice things. And I guess, figuring out like, is that sacrifice worth it? You know, that there's, like, there's a point for us where we were kind of like, this is a huge commitment. Is it worth our time at a certain point it wasn't so we were like, We need to change that. And if you know, we're gonna change that either it will be or we're not going to continue to do this. So you know, that's a time management and I think just pushing yourself you know, like, I think there's just yeah, like, I don't know, there's no limit to what you can do and like, if if you I don't know, I think if you really want something like you can you can make schoolwork and you can make that work and you just got to always I think push yourself that's what I'd say my advice would be in surround yourself with people that are also going to help you achieve that goal and that you know, your friends that you can help them push themselves as well.
Venkat Raman 34:23
Yeah, I think I think you also had a passion right for finance you kind of got into that and found that exciting and that kind of helped drive a lot of what you ended up doing
Thomas A 34:36
Yeah, I guess to add that kind of like an you know, I was never super interested in this kind of maybe ties in you know, the economics major and whatnot but I was you know, never super interested in like, like most people that with the finance they're gonna you know, they want to go to like investment banking or whatnot and just kind of the whole court corporate thing never interested me that much. So tell also kind of in My mind like this, you know, I have to do this, like, you know, there's no backup, like, I don't want to be doing the, you know, the corporate world. So I have to work hard to, to be able to have this work, you know
Venkat Raman 35:17
Any favorite memory at Davidson so far?
Um, I'd say I mean, there's definitely a lot but I'd say one of the good one is over, every, every year, we have a Parents Weekend, and our fraternity hosts like a big thing kind of for all the parents to get to know each other and everything. And that was we hired a band and that was just a lot of fun to, you know, you're surrounded with all your best friends. And like, you don't, you know, there's such a big aspect of that their lives like you live with these guys, but you don't know, you know, you don't know, their parents, you don't really know where they come from. So to see like, their parents come and on all the parents meet each other and interact, like, everyone had a lot of fun. And it was just awesome. And especially, you know, have your parents come back, like, you know, you know, that's the only time I'll see him this semester, so or last semester. So that was definitely an awesome memory, and especially coming out of COVID, where we didn't have that last year. That was a cool memory.
Venkat Raman 36:17
Fabulous. So Thomas, this has been great, great convers
Venkat Raman 36:22
ation, I find what you're doing really fascinating. And both the energy and the drive. So keep it up. And good luck with every aspect. I'm sure there'll be twists & turns, but stick with it. And I'm sure it'll work out great. So
Thomas A 36:42
thank you for having me, and I hope I'm able to help help some students.
Venkat Raman 36:48
Absolutely, absolutely. I'm sure. They'll find it inspiring. So thank you, Thomas. Good luck, take care and be safe.
Thomas A 36:55
Thanks.
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Hi again!
Hope you enjoyed our podcast with Thomas Athey about Davidson College & the Hurt Hub.
Thomas is an amiable, driven student entrepreneur.
As a student he is pushing himself with his pursuit of the double major.
With the help of The Hurt Hub his entrepreneurial venture has gone to the next level - with mentorship, funding and the like-minded Hub community.
In addition, he is committed to activities in Fraternity.
I hope Thomas’ story inspires you to check out Davidson College, and if you have an entrepreneurial bend, The Hurt Hub is a huge bonus!
For your questions or comments on this podcast, please email podcast at almamatters.io [podcast@almamatters.io].
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Till we meet again, take care and be safe.
Thank you!