2019 Modeling the Future Challenge Winners Announced

The Actuarial Foundation is proud to announce the winners in the second annual Modeling the Future Challenge, a national scholarship competition aimed at introducing the actuarial profession to high school students. The Challenge was developed with the Foundation’s partner, the Institute of Competition Sciences.

Clinching first place and receiving a $25,000 scholarship were Rushil Arora, Karina Halevy, Joshua Hejna, Shawn Huang and Maxwell Liu from Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California.  Coming in second place and winning the $15,000 scholarship award were Nikhil Brahmapuram, Henry Coates, Russell Graviet, Jr., Madoc Kimball and Shivani Kundalia from Maggie Walker Governor’s School in Richmond, Virginia. The third-place scholarship award of $10,000 went to Thomas Blue, Derek Chen, Nicolas Ferree, Mary Caroline Heinen and Ryan Kaplan from Maggie Walker Governor’s School in Richmond, Virginia.  The fourth-place scholarship award of $5,000 went to Rebecca Heidt from Waukee APEX in Waukee, Iowa.  Students from each winning team will share the scholarship awards, which will be sent to the colleges of their choice.

Selected from a total of 191 teams of high school juniors and seniors, the finalist teams were selected from 70 participating student teams from across the country. This year’s Challenge was incredibly competitive with student teams working to develop mathematical models of how future cures or treatments for diseases may affect our lives. Teams had to first pass a qualifying round of scenario response topics to demonstrate their mathematical acumen. Semi-finalists in the Challenge were then paired with actuary mentors who helped guide the students as they did research, data analysis and drafted their final papers. The teams presented their final papers to a panel of actuary judges at the Symposium in Chicago on April 11 and 12.

The Modeling the Future Challenge was made possible with the generous support of Founding Sponsor Roy and Georgia Goldman, Executive Sponsor Lincoln Financial Group, Champion Sponsor RGA, Event Sponsor Rick and Bethany Jones and Educator Grants Sponsor John Hanson Family Foundation.