Dave Thillen - A Mathematician's Journey To End Generational Poverty In Greene County, One Student At The Time!

There are people who talk about solving world problems and there are people who actually do solve world problems. Then there are people like Dave Thillen who take it to a whole new level! My amazing guest today is remarkable in many ways. Not only did he escape a life of extreme poverty, with hard work and massive action, but he wants to make sure that the students of Greene County High School don't just succeed, but excel in school and life!

Dave was born into poverty in inner city Chicago. He decided at an early age his life was going to be different, to be special. He worked his way into college, graduating with a degree in mathematics. He quickly landed a job at IBM, where his determination served him well. His career path did lead him into the army, where he was assigned to teach & coach athletics at West Point Military Academy. Additionally, his math & computer talents were utilized in a special project at the Academy. After leaving the Army, he returned to IBM, where he enjoyed a long, successful career and retired at the ripe, young age of 53!

When he and his wife Eileen moved to Lake Oconee 20 years ago, life got interesting! Having a passion for community service, Dave started working with Habitat for Humanity. He gave each home a little extra touch, by providing a computer in each Habitat home. From there, a program evolved where he started working with the Habitat students to develop goals and career paths. As the program grew, something amazing happened! We will talk about how the program grew into what is now a unique coaching program that every single high school freshman is assigned a coach who works with them on life, education and career goals throughout their high school years! This audacious goal is now resulting in amazing statistics of graduation, college, career and life success and they are just getting started! Find out more about this incredible program and the impact on the kids and the community.

You will be amazed, inspired and looking for ways to help this wonderful organization, with the ultimate goal of ending generational poverty in Greene County. I can't wait for you to "meet" Dave!

Guest: Dave Thillen

https://www.thilleneducationfoundation.com/

Dave Thillen - 706-347-0572

https://www.greene.k12.ga.us/Page/15

Sponsor - Lake Oconee Bistro

https://www.lakeoconeebistro.com/