“Tell me: what motivated you?” It’s a fairly boilerplate question that I’ll direct at my interview subjects. It’s something I ask entrepreneurs and educators alike. Why this? Why you? Why now?
Eric Simons had a good response: as a high school student, he wasn’t engaged in class. Recognizing this, his 10th grade chemistry teacher, Linda Bennett, asked him what would make him interested in the material. “Let the class work together. Online.” was his response. So she offered him the chance to design just such a thing as a class project. A programmer and website designer, Simons opted to build an online portal for the class — just the sort of educational application, he argued, that would keep him engaged.
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Alastair Creelman