AARON'S STORY

At the age of 23, Aaron Schock was simultaneously the President of the Peoria School Board and a Republican Illinois State Representative, making him the youngest school board president in history and the youngest member of the Illinois General Assembly.

Aaron Schock had a penchant for work, saving and investment during his high school years. Aaron invested nearly all his earnings. In fact, with his own earnings, he invested in his own IRA when he was only 14 years old. 

GROWING UP

Aaron’s parents taught him the value of work at an early age. He grew up on a farm, and when Aaron was five years old, his father planted a strawberry patch so the kids could earn money selling the strawberries. Aaron’s brother and sisters worked the strawberry field and Aaron took orders on the phone. His sisters remember customers being shocked when they learned that the very well-spoken and diligent order taker was five years old.

Aaron began working in a gravel pit at age 15 and earned up to $18,000 a year in his mid-teens. He invested nearly all of it. 

Aaron wanted to buy real estate in his mid-teens but his parents weren’t willing to go along with deals they considered too risky at the time. So Aaron continued to save his earnings and bought his first piece of real estate on his 18th birthday.  

Aaron enrolled in Bradley University and earned his degree in Finance…a four-year degree in only two years.

Right out of college, Aaron started a business with a partner and hired a few employees. He had a knack for business and intended to make it big by working hard and investing smartly.

ELECTED TO SCHOOL BOARD Aaron decided at age 19 to run for the Peoria School Board against the president of the school board because of policies he disagreed with in high school. Though he was busy with college and investing in real estate, Aaron felt a need to step up to the cause of getting on the school board to make things better. Aaron gathered more than the necessary signatures to get on the ballot. But his opponent—the school board president—

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