Hello everyone! 

My name is Charlie, I am a 20 year old college junior currently attending North Dakota State University. I am originally from Fargo, North Dakota, so I didn't have to travel far to find the college that fit my needs perfectly. I am double majoring in Finance and Economics - I have a great interest in anything that has to do with both the finance world and the global and national economy. This interest has almost always been present for me because my family can very often be found talking about the stock market, how the economy is doing, or anything related to those things. So naturally it piqued my interest. But what really got me motivated to study it further in college was the first economics course I took in high school, which I'll talk about in a later blog. In addition to school, I have also been working at Gate City Bank for about a year and a half now, which is a great experience and gives me knowledge that I will most likely use in my future career. 

So that is what I am currently doing with my life, but outside of school and work there are many other things that I enjoy doing. For instance, I have been playing video games for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was old enough to understand how a computer works, you could almost always find me at one during my free time. Not only video games though, I absolutely love board games and often hound my family to play with me. Monopoly, trivial pursuit, settlers of catan - I love them all. While growing up I also played many sports: baseball, football, basketball, and tennis were the main ones. Once I got older I eventually stopped playing, but they were all great experiences while growing up. The other activity that I often did while growing up was reading books. Once I was introduced to fantasy/sci-fi books, I just couldn't put them down. Still to this day, mostly during the summer, I read books for many hours a week just for fun. Overall I think that the activities that I participated in and hobbies I found while growing up have made me into a well-rounded individual that feels comfortable doing a lot of different things. 

Next week I will talk a little bit more about how I became interested in the finance and economics world and what I hope to gain through my education with it.