PENN STATE ACTUARIAL SCIENCE CLUB Overview Page 2: A message from former President Luke Yang and current President Stephen Kowalski Pages 3-4: Introducing the new Executive Board Pages 5-7: A look outside the club Page 5: Jim Sankey - Powerlifting Page 6: Lisa Winters - Field Hockey Page 7: Tarek Kerbag - Pool Pages 8-10: Exam Passers Page 11: Students with Internships Page 12: Students with Full-Time Jobs Business Building Atrium Actuarial Science Club Newsletter April 2016 Picture with SOA President-Elect Jerry Brown
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PENN STATE ACTUARIAL SCIENCE CLUB STATE ACTUARIAL SCIENCE CLUB Overview ... Tong Guo is the Social Chair of the club. ... I hope to pass MFE in July and
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PENN STATE ACTUARIAL SCIENCE CLUB
Overview
Page 2: A message from former President Luke Yang and current President Stephen Kowalski
Pages 3-4: Introducing the new Executive Board
Pages 5-7: A look outside the club
Page 5: Jim Sankey - Powerlifting
Page 6: Lisa Winters - Field Hockey
Page 7: Tarek Kerbag - Pool
Pages 8-10: Exam Passers
Page 11: Students with Internships
Page 12: Students with Full-Time Jobs
Business Building Atrium
Actuarial Science Club Newsletter April 2016
Picture with SOA President-Elect Jerry Brown
A Message from our Presidents
Former President – Luke Yang
Dear friends,
It's been an incredible four years and I'm glad that I got to
experience them with those at Penn State. To the seniors, thank
you for making our time together so memorable. To the alumni,
it's still shocking, but I'm happy to say I'm joining you. To the
underclassmen, you probably won’t believe me when I say that
come senior year time will be flying by. However, I hope you will,
and I hope you’ll make the most of your time as an undergraduate
to leave no regrets behind. Penn State is an incredibly diverse
college with more opportunities than we’ll ever know. So as you
strive towards advancing your career path, make sure not to
forget to be aware and involved in all that is around you.
It’s been an honor to become so invested in the Actuarial Science
Club, and I'm excited to see how the program and club have
continued to transform. I’m proud to say that with the help of the
executive board and you all, we’ve left it even better than before.
So to the new executive board, I hope you can make it even
better. And to everyone else, good luck.
I will miss you all. I will be working in Philadelphia after
graduation. If you ever have any questions, feel free (as always)
Aipeng (Max) Guo is the Vice President of the club. He is from
China and he likes traveling. He is majoring in Risk Management. He
interned with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China last summer. This summer he will be
interning with AIG in NYC
Tarek Kerbag is the
Secretary. He was born in Syria before moving to
Philadelphia in 2007. He is majoring in Math and enjoys playing pool. He interned with Liberty Mutual Insurance in
Boston, MA in the past two summers and this summer he will be interning with
Cigna in Philadelphia, PA
Jiaxin Liang is the Treasurer. She is from
China and is majoring in Risk Management. She likes to listen to kpop
music.
Donglu (Christa) Chen is the Webmaster. She is majoring in
Statistics and was born in Canton, China but lived in NYC for six years. She likes
dancing.
Terron Graham is the Student Relations Liaison. He is from Philadelphia, PA. He enjoys playing Frisbee. He is double
majoring in Risk Managment and Italian. He will be interning with
Buck Consultant in Secaucus, NJ this summer.
Lanjing (Cathy) Wang is the International Student Chair. She is from Chengdu, China and enjoys music and arts.
She is majoring in Math. She interned with Voya Financial
in West Chester, PA last summer and will be interning
with Towers Watson in Washington, DC this summer.
The New Executive Board
Tong Guo is the Social
Chair of the club. She is from Jiangsu, China
and she is double majoring in Risk Management and
Applied Statistics. She likes to travel and watch
movies. In 2015 she interned with Huatai
Securities in China and she will be interning
with PwC in NYC this summer.
John Gilinger is the Corporate Outreach Officer. He is from
Schwenksville, PA and is majoring in Actuarial
Science. He likes playing Ice Hockey and will be interning at Cigna in Philadelphia, PA this
summer.
John Miller is the Corporate Liaison. He is
from West Chester, PA. He is triple majoring in
Statistics, Finance and Economics. He will be
interning with Cigna in Bloomfield, CT this
summer.
The New Executive Board
Continued
A Look Outside
Where are you from?
I live in Doylestown, PA but I graduated from Council Rock South. I always dreamed of becoming an Air Force pilot, so choosing which
university to attend wasn't as big of a deal. I already had my private pilot's license so I just had to do well in a technical major to have a good
shot at getting a pilot slot. After my first year in ROTC at Bloomsburg University, I found out my eyes weren't good enough to become a pilot
and, because they are still getting worse instead of staying the same prescription, I don't qualify for Lasik surgery. I then decided to drop out
of ROTC, leaving me with a huge decision to make; what I’m going to do for a living when I graduate.
Why did you choose Penn State? At the time, my girlfriend was attending Penn State and so, naturally, I spent quite a bit of time coming here on the weekends and it didn't take long to love it here. When I realized Penn State was a CAE, I decided to apply to transfer and, a month after applying, I was accepted! I came in with no exams and within 1 year I passed P and FM, and had an internship with United Healthcare. I hope to pass MFE in July and MLC in November, and ultimately getting my ASA credentials before my 24th birthday (17 months from now). Why did you choose actuarial science as your major? I had already developed a passion for mathematics so I figured I would either go the Ph.D/academia route or study applied mathematics and work with finance or physics. My advisor introduced me to actuarial science and within 24 hours of hearing about it, I was set on it. I must have spent 10 hours on BeAnActuary.org and ActuarialOutpost.com over the next 2-3 days researching what I needed to do to become a qualified actuary. I did come across the list of Centers for Actuarial Excellence and planned on simply getting a M.S. in Actuarial Science after graduating from Bloomsburg, as we didn't really have much of a program - just a few extra statistics classes would allow you to have a concentration in Actuarial Science. How did you become involved with powerlifting? Why do you powerlift? Who is your favorite powerlifter? Back in Bloomsburg, during my freshman year, I got into powerlifting from a friend who lived across the hall from me and have done it ever since. When I learned I was coming to Penn State, I looked into the club sport organizations and found a powerlifting team; the Iron Lions. After joining the team, I had my first meet a month later. That meet, I totaled 1035lbs with a 375lb squat, 245lb bench, and a 435lb deadlift (pictured). To date, my best lifts are a 435lb squat, 325lb bench, and a 495lb deadlift for a 1255lb total (raw, sleeveless, and belt-less; for those who know what that means). I compete in the USAPL (USA Powerlifting, a sub group of the International Powerlifting Federation) which is a drug-free organization, and arguably the most competitive in the US. I won't be making it to Collegiate Nationals this year because my best friend is getting married the same weekend and I'm in the wedding party, but I do have a meet coming up in May. The meet is Pennsylvania State Championships, where I will be competing in both the junior and open division in the 231lb weight class; hopefully taking the podium in both divisions. If you don't know much about the sport and are interested in it, check out my favorite powerlifters Jesse Norris, Mark Bell, Jonnie Candito, and Brandon Lilly. My favorite part of this incredible sport is that it's not gender bias - I've seen plenty of women lift way more than men a lot heavier than they are. What was/is your favorite class at PSU? I'll be graduating this fall with a degree in mathematics, arguably making me "nerdier" than most. With that being said, the classes I've enjoyed the most here at Penn State are: Classical Analysis I (Math 403), which allowed me to truly understand what it means to be a mathematician and to see mathematics as an art; Actuarial Mathematics I (RM 411), seeing as it's a beautiful blend of math and finance, while teaching me fundamental actuarial principles; and Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe (Astro 006), because it focuses on the life of stars and how they impact our universe - which I enjoyed so much that I actually got a telescope and have gotten into astrophotography, linking my Nikon D3300 to my Celestron NexStar 6SE.
Where are you from? I am from Hershey, Pennsylvania. Why did you choose Penn State? I chose Penn State during my junior year of high school after coming on a visit with the field hockey program. I knew I wanted to study actuarial science, so the prestige of the program here combined with how much I fell in love with the campus and my future teammates made it perfect for me. The combination of both great academics and athletics at Penn State is amazing. Why did you choose actuarial science as your major? I started to consider actuarial science toward the end of high school. I had an accounting class in high school that I loved, so I knew that I wanted to go into business, but I wasn't sure if accounting was the exact path I wanted to take. I started talking to a couple of my teachers, one of which was an actuary before going into education, and my parents about other options, and actuarial science seemed fitting for my interests, so I decided to go for it. So far, it has been a great decision! How did you become involved with field hockey? My original interest was actually in playing ice hockey, but my brother was already playing and my parents kind of wanted me to do something different, so I chose what I thought would be the closest thing to it: field hockey. I began playing field hockey for my middle school in 7th grade, and immediately fell in love with it. I joined a club team and played as much as I possibly could, and haven't stopped ever since. Do you like playing any other sports? I ran track for a year and played softball for a year of high school, but never got really invested in any sport other than field hockey. With outdoor season in the fall, indoor season in the winter, and training/camps in the spring and summer, my schedule was always pretty full with just one sport. What was/is your favorite class at PSU? My favorite class at PSU at the moment is Management 397A. As part of the Sapphire Leadership Academic Program in Smeal, I get to take this class with my freshman cohort, and it's a really out-of-the-box thinking type of class. I've never really had a class quite like it before, and it's been really fun to do something different.
A Look Outside
Tarek Kerbag – Pool Player
Where are you from? I was originally born in Syria before I moved to the U.S.A. in 2007, Philadelphia, PA to be specific. I lived in Philly until I moved to Penn State in 2012 Why did you choose Penn State? I loved the campus and the culture and the size of the school. I went to a small high school, so I wanted to experience a really big campus. I knew Penn State had so many extracurricular opportunities, so I wouldn’t worry about being bored. I also received a full academic scholarship to attend here, so that pretty much sealed the deal. Why did you choose actuarial science as your major? I am currently majoring in Math, actuarial science option. I knew I wanted to do something related to math, but I wasn’t sure what exactly. My counselor in high school mentioned to me actuarial science, so I deiced to research it. I like two aspects about it, the course work in college and the work after college. I discovered from my research that I would be taking a wide variety of interesting courses, such as mathematics, probability, statistics, finance, economics and some computer science. I thought it was a really interesting mix of classes to take. Also, insurance is very vital part of today’s society; it gives individuals and organizations peace of mind. Through becoming an actuary, I want to gain a better understanding of the insurance business and contribute to its success. How did you become involved with pool? For some reason, I got interested in pool before my height could reach the table. I played a lot in Syria growing up. Unfortunately, when I moved to the United States I couldn’t play throughout all of high school because I did not have access to any place to play. (Leagues in Philly require you to beat least 21 to play). Fortunately, Penn State had a great billiards club that I have been involved in since freshmen year. What I really like about pool is that you have to strategically think about your future moves (like in chess) in order to be competitive. Do you like playing any other sports? I also enjoy playing volleyball and soccer. I played both sports on the varsity level during high school and continues being involved by playing in the Intermural leagues here at Penn State. What was/is your favorite class at PSU? I would have to say all of the Calculus classes.
Exam Passers
Exam P
Alluri, Rajeev Chandra Guo, Aipeng (Max) Miller, Matthew R. Wang, Sihan
Bao, Minglu Guo, Tong Miller, Phillip Wang, Xinyi
Barry, Timothy Guo, Kun Millstine, Erik Wei, Yi-Nong
Bauer, Justin Han, Chong Muhamad Zawawi, Nabila Aisyah Wolfe, Paul J.
Bi, Jia Hanks, Ephraim Nacov, Danielle Wu, Yifan
Bian, Yanan Hayes, Joseph F. Newman, Mary Xu Qishen (Jason)
Bin, Lan Hayes, Maris Niu, Xiaoyue (Maggie) Xu, Siqi
Bonazelli, Joseph Hedges, Robert Palladino, Joseph Xu, Yuezhi