For Tarun Chitra ’07, some of his strongest memories of Charter center on the opportunities available to students and the classmates and teachers who challenged him to think differently.
After graduating from CSW, Chitra attended Cornell University, where he earned degrees in Mathematics and Applied Engineering Physics. His career has since taken him through scientific programming and quantitative research to entrepreneurship. Today, he is the co-founder and CEO of Gauntlet, a company focused on risk management and economic modeling in decentralized finance.
Looking back, Chitra says he gained a new appreciation for Charter after arriving at college and meeting students from larger and more heavily resourced schools.
“One of the things that stood out the most about Charter was the set of opportunities available and the caliber of students,” Chitra said.
From advanced coursework to nationally competitive science and math teams, he remembers CSW as a place where students were encouraged to push beyond the traditional high school experience. He credits that environment to a combination of dedicated teachers and students willing to challenge themselves.
Science Olympiad and math competitions were particularly influential. Chitra enjoyed the opportunity to test his knowledge against challenging problems while learning alongside his peers.
“These contests taught you about how to learn to solve challenges alongside fellow students versus trying to dig in alone,” he said.
That collaborative approach to problem solving has remained relevant throughout his career, where complex challenges often require experimentation, adaptability, and a willingness to approach a problem from multiple directions.
Chitra also remembers Mr. Stover, Mrs. Gupta, and Mrs. Cote as teachers who made a lasting impact on the way he thinks. Rather than emphasizing a single path to the correct answer, he recalls them encouraging students to understand the many different ways a problem could be solved.
For Chitra, that willingness to explore different approaches was one of the lessons from Charter that extended far beyond the classroom.
Thirty years after CSW first opened its doors, stories like Tarun’s reflect the impact of a community built around curiosity, collaboration, and the opportunity to challenge what students believe they can accomplish.