Argenys Morban: Finance part-time employee and former BPCA intern
Favorite BPC spot: Wagner Park
A force on the field and in the board room, Bronx native Argenys Morban attended the Birch Wathen Lenox School on Manhattan’s Upper East Side where he starred as a three-sport athlete. He was an MVP pitcher and shortstop for the baseball team, a coaches’ awardee in basketball, and rookie award winner in soccer. Argenys’ athletic talents were in such high demand that Princeton University took notice and wanted to recruit him to play baseball for the Tigers.
Argenys eventually decided upon Pace University, where he is currently a junior studying economics with minors in computer science and statistics. As a freshman, one of his professors told him about the Federal Reserve team at the school, and how Argenys would be a perfect candidate to join. Argenys joined the team his sophomore year as a research analyst and worked his way up to presenter his junior year.
Last week, Argenys and six of his teammates from Pace University took first place the National College Federal Reserve Challenge in Washington, D.C. competing in the Liberty Street division his team beat out those from Harvard, Princeton, and Cornell universities, among nearly 100 others. The experience was an invaluable one for Argenys and his teammates, and culminated in a meeting with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen herself.
When Argenys isn’t competing in his school team, he is working as the COO of a non-profit organization called Special Ops NYC, which was founded in the summer of 2016. Special Ops NYC’s mission is to provide food and clothing for the homeless, and the organization delivered more than 200 Thanksgiving care packages as part of its first annual food drive this past November.
In his spare time Argenys enjoys playing the guitar – Slash from Guns ‘N Roses was an early inspiration – piano, and drums, creative writing, exercising, reading books, and fishing. He is enjoying his time working at BPCA and learning all he can for a bright future in either real estate or economics research.
Argenys (back row, third from left) and his Pace University team won the 14th annual national College Fed Challenge
Tushain Newman: Administration part-time employee and former BPCA intern
Favorite BPC spot: South Cove
Like Alexander Hamilton more than two centuries earlier, Tushain Newman followed a path from the West Indies to the nation’s financial capital here in New York City. Born in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, Tushain migrated with his family to the United States in 2004. And while the timing wasn’t quite right for a revival of “Hamilton,” he nonetheless joined the drama club at Bronx Preparatory Charter High School and starred in productions of “In the Heights” and “Dream Girls.” After graduation Tushain earned his associate’s degree in Business Administration at LaGuardia Community College, then transferred to Lehman College where as a junior he is currently studying economics.
It was through the Battery Park City Authority connection that he learned of the Federal Reserve Challenge; fellow intern Argenys Morban mentioned that Lehman had a solid squad that could be made even stronger with Tushain’s talents. A conversation with Economics Department Chairman Professor Nikolaos Papanikolaou led to Tushain’s swift recruitment, where he now serves as team Secretary.
Tushain and the Lehman College team recently participated in the National College Federal Reserve Challenge, a competition designed to bring real-world economics into the classroom. Competing in the Maiden Lane division, Tushain’s team took the top spot, beating out schools like Columbia, St. John’s, and New Jersey City universities, among dozens of others. Of the challenge Tushain says: “I learned more during that, I think, than I ever would in classes alone. It’s that real-world experience that’s invaluable.”
He is now eager to participate in the Bloomberg Trading Challenge (BTC), which runs from February 5 to April 3, 2017. BTC is designed to help students develop their skills in financial data analytics and view the market through the eyes of those who use the Bloomberg terminal daily. Winners of the challenge have the opportunity to get a first round interview for an internship at Bloomberg.
In his spare time, Tushain enjoys reading, photography, and investing. He plans for a future in investment banking and to eventually starting his own business aimed at modernizing the education system by recruiting subject matter experts from different sectors to develop curricula.
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