DIvIDEnD - Stephen M. Ross School of Business - University of ...

{ AluMnI SPoTlIGhT }
Angelyn Justian, BBA ’07, never wanted a desk job. But as
a teacher at the Bronx global enterprise academy, she now
faces more desks than she ever imagined. the high school
opened in september 2003 with a curriculum customized for
students interested in business and entrepreneurship.
“although i value my business background, coming out of
Ross i knew i didn’t want to do anything that was strictly business,”
says Justian. so she joined the teach for america program
shortly after graduating, and soon discovered “business was
something i could end up teaching.”
through teach for america, she was placed in a new york city
public school, which kept her close to Ross friends who’d accepted
jobs in the financial district. at the same time, she continued her
own education, pursuing a certification through the network
for teaching entrepreneurship (nfte). and when the position
opened at the Bronx global enterprise academy, Justian found
the perfect way to blend her business acumen with her burgeoning
interest in the classroom.
“i was able to use my Ross experience to create a class that
focused on mathematics with a business application,” she says.
“in writing the curriculum, i used my degree to show students
how math and business are intertwined.”
students in Justian’s ninth grade class learn integrated algebra,
a standard practice for that grade. But they don’t learn it the
standard way.
62 DIvIDEnD spring 2010
from high finance to high school
Angelyn Justian, BBA ’07, Brings Business to Bronx Students
“traditionally, you can solve a set of
equations with substitution, elimination,
or a graph,” says Justian. “But i
show them that the break-even quantity
is where your sales and cost functions
meet, solving the equation.”
she finds the lesson resonates best
with a relevant application: “if nike
has certain variable and fixed costs,
how many shoes would they need to
sell if they set a certain price?”
Justian keeps pushing the relevance
factor through grant money she
received with her nfte certification.
for her business math class, she teaches
students the law of supply and demand
by funding their efforts to buy goods
to sell at a schoolwide fair.
“i tried teaching them all this on
PowerPoint slides, but they weren’t really
clear on what certain terms meant,” she says. “after we did the
activity, we were able to have a much richer discussion because
they understood what i was talking about.”
Justian always is on the lookout for other real-world examples
to bring into the classroom. her students now create business
plans that require them to design a product, forecast sales, set
a marketing strategy, and identify competitive advantages.
students then participate in a business plan competition, where
they can win money funded by the nfte grant.
thinking back to her time at Ross, Justian realizes how many
of her ideas and activities are inspired by her experiences as a
BBa student. and from her current perspective on the teacher’s
side of the desk, she now has a clear understanding of the skills
it takes to deliver a good lesson.
“i had no idea what i was doing when i first entered the classroom,”
she says. “it’s not as easy as teachers made it look when
i was a student. But i came out of Ross with a lot of confidence,
and that’s not something that’s easily taught.”
as Justian looks to the future, she can see a possible career
in education policy reform. But for now, she has no plans to
follow her friends into finance.
“my students always ask me why, with all my business knowledge,
i’m not working on wall street,” Justian says. “i tell them
it’s because we need smart people teaching today’s youth.”
Angelyn Justian, BBA ’07, challenges high
school entrepreneurs to try new ventures.
—Leah Sipher-Mann
photo by samuel stuart