Everyone knows Steve Sand as the economics god, the pickleball god, I guess Steve is just a god. pleasure of interviewing Steve about the best parts of his life and all the great things he has accomplished.
Steve Sand was born in Chicago, Illinois, an only child. He eventually moved to the suburbs and lived out his life until he eventually attended The University of Iowa, Go Hawkeyes!
“I’m an only child. With my parents, we lived in the Southside of Chicago till I was 10 and then we moved to a suburb just north of the city,” Steve shared.
Sand loves pickleball, and spike ball, we all know this. If you have ever been on ex ed with the man be prepared to get beat to the ground, because you will lose, Steve doesn’t lose.
“I’ve played and taught tennis my entire life. I kept getting invited to play pickleball at the arc, I played a couple of times and I played on vacation in Florida, with family and friends. I really just fell in love with pickleball”, Steve said.
As a child Steve got the opportunity to visit Aspen, and he fell in love yet again.
“When I was like 10 or 11 for Christmas, I got invited on a trip to Snowmass with my parents and their friends,” Sand said.
Sand also shared his immense love for the valley
“We would go every year to Snowmass, every March. I learned how to ski in Wisconsin. So to get to come here to Snowmass was amazing. That was our one vacation a year,” Sand said.
As most of you know, Steve is a rather amazing econ teacher, he went through a few phases before he finally landed right him in Aspen.
“I lived in Aspen for a year, just when I left Chicago, just to kind of do the ski bum lifestyle. Then I got a real job with an accounting firm, but it was in Telluride. And I just felt Telluride was beautiful but it was too small. I liked the culture in Aspen and it had more to offer,” Steve said.
Steve is a teacher at heart, and he decided to name Aspen High School his home.
“What I like about teaching is working with students who are still kind of malleable. Especially around personal finance and money. A lot of adults I work with, the older you get, you kind of get set in your ways and your habits. It’s very hard for an adult to change financial habits that they’ve learned or or built up. But with high school students, they’re still learning and they’re willing to change and learn new things.” Sand said.
Steve is our proud IB Econ teacher, and he loves every second of it.
I started mid-year, my very first-semester teaching IB business. I took over for a teacher’s business class. I ended up taking over IB Econ and that’s coincidentally right when Sheri Smith and took over IB Business.” Steve said.
And finally Steve was asked to describe himself using one word, he chose…
“I am a lifelong learner,” Steve said.
