ATA Education Program senior Aaron Chaffee will continue his academic and athletic careers at DePaul University. This past week, Chaffee made a verbal commitment to the university, and on November 11th, he will make it official at the ATA Early Signing Ceremony.

“I am really excited for the opportunity to get a financial education from professors who are coming directly off the trading floor and can give me real world experience while still getting the full college experience,” Chaffee said. “I am excited for the opportunity to compete on a team that consistently is competing for Big East titles, and potentially even National Titles. I am also excited to be a part of a very closely-knit team that will allow me to reach my full potential.”

This is the culmination of a long college selection process that each of the ATA Education Program students goes through beginning in the 8th grade. The process involves things like goal setting, honing communication skills, identifying activities that do and do not bring enjoyment, and selecting curricula that maximizes all of it.

“Aaron has been involved in this multi-year process, slowly chipping away at each piece... but this semester, all the work paid off as his search took on warp speed with back-to-back visits across the country,” ATA Ed Director Carol Hagar said.

Carol explained that in the midst of traveling from school to school, he continued to compete, manage his travel plans, volunteer with LTYA and JA, maintain his academics at ACC and ATA, and handle the many personal responsibilities that come with living on his own.

“Not until he came home from his visit to DePaul did I see a relaxed Aaron and smile of satisfaction on his face,” Hagar said. “It all came together... he had found his match... and he knew it. He was beaming.”

DePaul was a better fit for Aaron than other schools like Illinois, Claremont McKenna and Dartmouth, ultimately because of the post-graduate opportunities that come with attending a school in downtown Chicago.

“On my visit I was able to go to the Chicago Board of Trade and see the trading floor, and as a person interested in the Finance field, that was really exciting for me,” Aaron said.

Currently, Aaron is ranked number 18 in Texas and number 232 in the country. When he arrived at ATA, he was ranked around 250 in Texas and outside of the top 2000 in the nation. Aaron joins a DePaul team that has consistently finished top 3 or 4 in the Big East.

“ATA has prepared me for the academic and athletic rigor of living in a college environment,” Aaron said. “Also I think that ATA has prepared me for dealing with all of the distractions that come with college.”

Hagar had this to say regarding Aaron’s time at ATA and in the ATA Education program:

“During the past few years, I have been able to watch Aaron grow from a typical egocentric child into a more caring and responsible young man. I am proud of his willingness to immerse himself in the lofty demands of ATA - the challenges of living a self-disciplined life, grasping new ways of learning, dedicating himself to advanced study skills, thinking outside the box to problem solve, and striving for constant improvement. As a graduate of the ATA Education Program, these pursuits have resulted in Aaron's opportunity to attend DePaul University as a scholarship student-athlete.”