Before moving to the United States several decades ago, Dan Heymann was a musician touring in his native homeland of South Africa. He and his band wrote songs in protest of apartheid while the world watched a nation in crisis—divided by race and fighting their way towards equality. For Dan, music was a chance to fight for social justice.
After the band dissolved, Dan moved to the United States and found work in the corporate world as a data analyst. He had previously earned his college degree at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and quickly became part of a corporation staffed with tens of thousands of employees. Things were going well until the economic depression of 2008 left Dan out of work and turned business prospects inside out. He was left with a choice: would he continue on in the corporate world, or look for more meaningful work?
Dan chose to become a tutor; he held a degree in engineering and knew he could find work teaching math and sciences. After six or seven years as a successful tutor, he learned about Saga and became interested in applying for a Fellow position.
“The reason why I chose Saga is very simple: it’s two-on-one tutoring!” Dan says. “Having tried, on one unhappy occasion, to explain the SAT to a roomful of twenty kids, I knew that a two-on-one model had to be far more effective.”