Derick Gross is a true scholar-athlete: a National Merit Commended Scholar, AP Scholar with Honors, 1st Team All-Conference and co-captain of the varsity football team, and member of the varsity basketball team at Elwood – John H. Glenn High School in New York. Derick also participated in the Brookhaven National Laboratories High School Apprenticeship Program.

There is much more to Derick than academics and athletics, however. He is dedicated to improving the lives of others. Community programs that have benefitted from his involvement include Natural Helpers (peer counseling), Special Olympics, Head Start, and Senior Citizens. With his siblings, he founded a service that provides books to disadvantaged children: in the first year of the program, they collected and distributed over 400 free books. Since 1997, Derick has worked as a counselor and sports instructor in the summer camp and after-school program at the Huntington, Long Island YMCA, where he is valued especially for his sensitivity and empathy.

An early admission offer brought Derick to Columbia University where he earned a BS in Chemical Engineering. He interned at Credit Suisse First Boston summer of his freshman year.