Charly Jeune graduated from George Washington Preparatory High School in Los Angeles, where he was the 1999 Valedictorian. He was also the lone tenth grader to make the 1996-1997 Academic Decathlon Team; during the succeeding two years he was team captain. To be eligible for the team a student must commit herself or himself to “at least nine months of grueling intensive study in ten academic disciplines,” says the team’s coach, who is also chair of Mathematics and Computer Sciences. “The time requirements exceed any other scholastic or athletic endeavor.” In addition, Charly was President of the Science Olympiad team and MESA (Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement). His teachers are quick to point out that Charly is not a bookworm, but a well-rounded individual who played trombone in his school’s jazz and marching bands.

Of special significance to Charly was his admission to the highly competitive LEAD program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He studied entrepreneurship, management, marketing, finance, operations, and law. It was, he says, “an overview of the business world” offered at one of the country’s best business schools, and it gave him “a taste of college life.” Charly has completed an MS in Electrical Engineering at Syracuse University.