Page 20 - Winds Of Change Fall 2018

AISES PEOPLE
MASON GRIMSHAW
ROSEBUD SIOUX / MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY / BUSINESS ANALYTICS
Mason Grimshaw never envisioned himself walking across the stage at his college graduation. Now, having recently received his
bachelor’s degree in business analytics and
poised to start a master’s program in the same eld, he can’t imagine himself anywhere else. And it all started with a game of cards.
Growing up on the Rosebud Reserva- tion in Mission, S.D., Grimshaw spent many hours playing cards with his grandparents. In the small town of only 1,000 people, playing cards was a way for
Grimshaw to indulge his passion for games and spend quality time with his family. It was through these games that he came to realize that everyday problems could be turned into games and analyzed, which interested him greatly.
When he wasn’t playing card games, Grimshaw was watching both his grandfa- thers excel in their chosen careers — his Grandpa Byrd as a rancher and his Grandpa Greg as the owner of a Napa Auto Parts. Grimshaw’s parents worked hard and taught him from an early age the impor- tance of always giving his all. “I get my work ethic from my parents and grandpar- ents for sure,” he says. “My parents were very important in teaching me that I could do whatever I wanted in life, so long as I gave it 110 percent.”
For Grimshaw, that didn’t necessarily mean going to college. “College wasn’t very important to me at the beginning of high school,” he says. “Coming from Rosebud, college was some nice idea that I had heard about, but I didn’t view it as critical to the success of my family. My grandpas were very successful without college, and my parents were nontradi- tional students who nished their college work later in life.” However, being at St. Thomas More High School in Rapid City, S.D. — a private high school with a focus on preparing for college — changed his mind. At the end of four years of high school Grimshaw was set to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge.
Initially, Grimshaw found MIT’s rigorous environment intimidating, and he wasn’t sure he would make the cut. While those feelings of inadequacy faded as he did well academically, personally he faced many more challenges. “When I was a freshman, my mother needed a new kidney,” he says. “As a sophomore and junior, I suffered two spontaneous collapsed lungs, and then our family suffered two unexpected deaths at the end of my junior year, going into my senior year.”
Determined to persevere, Grimshaw relied on his friends in AISES and in his fraternity to help him succeed. “I was very active in my fraternity, Sigma Nu, and held many positions in the internal government there, including vice president,” he says. “And AISES gave me an incredibly tight-knight and supportive community at MIT. Finding a community like that is
18 WINDS OF CHANGE • FALL 2018
aises.org
COURTESY OF MASON GRIMSHAW