When I was a child, I enjoyed playing the board games "Figgy mill", "One and the four", Checkers, and Chinese checkers with my grandfather. All four of those games involved making decisions to move pieces on a board. With figgy mill, players decided where to put the first X pieces on the board, before moving them. Later (middle school?), I learned chess but only got good at during my high school years (school champ). I played the board game Risk with friends. That game involved decisions but was heavily influenced by luck as we were all about equally good at that game. The card game Hearts is another game that blended decisions and randomness. I played Hearts into my adult years. When solving OR problems now (e.g. how to sequence passengers boarding an airplane to minimize health risk), the most enjoyable part feels like playing a game.
I was the oldest of my parent's children, so my grandfather played the board games with me before my younger siblings could do it. If he had not, would I have ever had a career in operations research? It's difficult to answer such questions with confidence. My grandfather was retired at the time and came over often. For sure, he and the games stimulated my interest and abilities in logical decision making.
This past Sunday, my 15 month grandson, my younger daughter, and I were walking in the yard. He stopped to pick up some dirt. My daughter tried to stop him (to avoid getting dirty), but I said that's how he learns. The cycle continues.
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John Milne
Clarkson
Universityjmilne@clarkson.edu------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 04-07-2022 10:41
From: Jill Capello
Subject: Fun post: Do childhood toys influence a person's career choice?
Was there a toy or game from your childhood that influenced your career choice? If so, what was it? It'll be interesting to see if we receive any common responses.
Everyone who responds to this thread by end of day Thursday, April 14th (ET) will be entered into a drawing to win a Starbucks gift card! If you have a photo on your profile, you get a bonus entry in the drawing. So make sure to post a photo if you haven't already!
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Jill Capello
Membership Associate
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
jcapello@informs.org
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