In June, the MAC hosted a first-of-its-kind event pairing high school students with finance professionals to learn about both golf and investing. The Swing2Win event was created by a young man who is also one-of-a-kind.
John Daniels IV started his own business when he was just 8. The business has evolved from greeting cards to graphic design, and now named Pontem (Latin for bridge) it teaches teens about investing. He was lucky enough to learn young from his grandfather, John Daniels II. Now, a junior at Marquette High School, John created Swing2Win through Pontem and plans to make it a regular occurrence. The launch event happened in the golf simulator at the MAC with four of John’s Marquette High classmates and mentors, Jonathan Newby, Paul Sweeney, Matt Holbrook and John Daniels Jr.
With the help of MAC employee Brad Schendel, John sent an email to MAC members to ask about participating, Paul Sweeney of PS Capital Partners has been a member of the MAC for 36 years. This is the first time he’s been asked to participate in something like this. Unfortunately, Paul learned that he does not golf very well on a simulator, but still enjoyed sharing both his professional and personal journey with students. He hopes his story made a positive impact and pushes them in the right direction for success.
Paul appreciates John’s efforts to connect high school students and business professionals so that future leaders have a better understanding of career opportunities and learn the value of networking.
Matt Holbrook of Country Financial also participated in the event. “John sent me an impressive email explaining both his vision and his goals and made it impossible to say no to getting involved,” said Matt. “ I appreciated his drive and agreed with his idea with Swing2Win.” At the event, Matt was surprised at how outgoing the group was and how forthcoming they were with good questions. “Through the entire event there were good conversations and a lot of laughs!,” he said.
Matt has been a member since 2016, but has only started getting more involved with the different programs since 2019. He plans to participate in future events.
John plans to host up to four Swing2Win events a year, mixing returning and new guests. In his spare time when not participating in golf, tennis or model UN at Marquette, John loves using the MAC to work out, for family dinners and to practice his swing in the golf simulator. If you would like to get involved in a future event, please contact John directly at john@pontemmke.com.