Blue Hen Spotlight: Danny Auerbach
August 21, 2020 Written by Ariana Pelosci | Photo provided by Danny Auerbach
UD alumnus Danny Auerbach has kept the values he learned through the Blue Hen Leadership Program and put them into action professionally. After graduation, Danny began working at a corporate firm but ultimately realized that wasn’t his passion. Using what BHLP taught him, he found another career that brings him endless happiness: teaching.
What inspired you to join BHLP?
I was inspired by a few members of my fraternity who were leaders in my organization. They said that BHLP was a way to make themselves better as both individuals and change agents in our fraternity. I always have cared about constant improvement and I was sold.
What are some of the values that you learned through the program?
Grit—how to persevere when tough challenges come up. Passion—when you use your head and heart, you can hustle at anything you put your mind to; find that passion and you’ll succeed. Wealth—not wealth in a financial sense but a wealth of experiences and engagements with different people. Everyone has a unique story and background. Interact with a lot of different people and do a lot of different things and you will have a greater ability to see clearly and create a strong impact on the world.
How did you apply what you learned in BHLP to your academic life as well as your career?
In this program, I learned that leadership is the process of inspiring others toward a shared goal. I was able to discover what leadership was—how to apply it to a project on campus, how to relate to a non-profit with global reach and how to lead and advise others toward their own leadership journey. In academics and my career, I used this knowledge and the accompanying skills to create tangible and specific goals for group projects and help ensure we were tracking toward those goals at every step of the way. Whether the goal was creating a combined group paper in a psychology course or project managing a team of individuals to create a new talent acquisition software and strategy for a nonprofit, I needed this knowledge to succeed. BHLP was an instrumental part of my success.
You started out at a consulting firm. Why did you take that job?
After college, I took a job to be a human capital consultant. My intentions were to learn as much as I could about business and work to find solutions to difficult organizational problems in businesses across the country. I thought that if we could change the setup of the structure in corporate America by restructuring human resources departments and improving talent management, we could improve working conditions for all–specifically parents in the hopes that it would eventually help children.
How did you begin to realize that your job didn’t add up to the values you held for yourself?
I worked extremely long weeks and traveled around the country and the world often. I gave presentations to C-Suites of Fortune 500 companies and led international workshops. While I did all these things, I discovered the best part of my week was when I tutored in a children’s hospital in Chicago once a week on Thursdays, often after a long week or even a flight somewhere else. While my business skills were growing, my heart was getting further and further away from those people and issues that I cared about. I was redesigning strategies, structures and technologies, but I was not actually helping children nor the education system.
How did you choose to become a teacher after leaving your job at the consulting firm?
I chose to become a teacher because I felt that I needed on the ground engagement with children to truly find out what the problems are within the education system, what does success look like and what can be leveraged at the best schools to expand across the country. When I found Success Academy in New York, I knew I had found an organization that would give me insight into more than just the teacher lens but it would also push my understanding in terms of educational policy, equity or lack thereof in education and how to engage the whole family unit to ensure success.
Does being a teacher hold up to your values? Why or why not?
As a teacher, I definitely have to be gritty. Each new day brings on new challenges and setbacks. While I never know what my 200-plus students will do (or not do), I have to push through to help get them to the next step. My students are also mainly Black and brown children from under-resourced communities, so the system is unfortunately already stacked against them. I hope to change that. I also am using my passion as a driver to do everything I can do to help my students. I have an internal desire to help my students and go to work every day to make that happen.
What grade and subject do you teach?
I am teaching fifth-grade math this year, but last year I taught fifth-grade ELA (English). I want to see both sides of the educational curriculum to leverage strengths and close gaps so students can holistically be better overall.
How do you implement BHLP values into your classroom?
I always tell my students to be gritty and put effort into everything they do, especially for the students who are struggling. For all students, it is not just using one system of mathematics but two to solve a problem because it limits the margin of error. It is not just reading the question on an ELA test but putting that question into your own words and using every tool in their toolkit to succeed, even if they might not know what one of the words means. It is not walking away from that reading test that they failed with a frown but with a determination to come back to the next one with success. With a strong sense of grit, I know my students are capable of anything.
Do you have any advice for UD students that could help them when searching for their future career?
While choosing a first career step, make a list of all the things you’re good at and all the things you love to do. See if there are areas where those things could intersect. Regardless of what you do, remember that no job is forever—unless you want it to be—and you should give each opportunity your all. You never know how your skills in a particular area that you may have once hated might come in handy down the line.
Is there anything else you want to share?
iMentor was also a huge factor for me to know that I wanted to work on the front lines of education full-time. Lastly, I think it’d be helpful if you look at this e-portfolio that I made during my senior year of college as part of my BHLP Tier 4 project. It sums up a lot of the questions above and talks about my overall path in college and why I chose my first job.
BHLP is a nationally recognized four-tiered experiential leadership development program open to all students at UD. The program is grounded in leadership theory. Students gain confidence, develop leadership competencies and build their resumes through project-based learning. You can find out more by visiting the Blue Hen Leadership Program website.
This blog post is written by our Division of Student Life student intern Ariana Pelosci.