Livingston Entrepreneurship Students Learn Firsthand Lessons From Billionaire CEO

LIVINGSTON, NJ — Juniors and seniors in Livingston High School (LHS) business teacher Maggie Wohltmann’s entrepreneurship class and members of the LHS Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) leadership board recently participated in a Dreamwakers Flash Chat with Jeff Hoffman, who is best known as the founder of the Priceline.com in addition to being a global entrepreneur, chief executive officer (CEO), worldwide motivational speaker, published author, Hollywood film producer and producer of a Grammy-winning jazz album in 2015.   

“Hybrid/remote learning has provided a great setting for virtual guest speakers,” said Wohltmann, who acknowledged that remote learning presents several challenges, but added that having virtual guest speakers has been a great experience for her as an educator. “I have found a way to connect my students with the outside world and bring relevance in the simplest of ways.”

During the 45-minute discussion, students had the opportunity to engage with Hoffman on a variety of topics. Several LHS administrators also joined in on the call. 

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“It was a wonderful opportunity for students and staff,” said Wohltmann, adding that the topics he discussed—including entrepreneurship, philanthropy, social good, careers and education—are constant subjects of discussion in her class. 

Wohltmann first became familiar with Dreamwakers in March at the start of remote learning. Since then, she has hosted several guest speakers for her classes with great success.

“LHS students are amazing to watch in ‘remote action,’” she said. “They are prepared with questions, professional in nature and ready to engage. They make us all proud.”

According to Wohltmann, the students were enraptured as they heard Hoffman describe his ventures with Priceline and Ubid as well as his social/philanthropic efforts and his connections to the music/entertainment industry.

She also shared the following list of Hoffman’s standout pieces advice for students:

  • “You should have a lifelong thirst for learning”
  • “School teaches you how to learn” 
  • “Success is not a destination, it’s a platform”
  • “Teachers and educators want you to have a great life. What would make your life epic?” 

Following the discussion, student Amara Uzondu said that “Hoffman’s advice was inspiring,” and Gehrig Rosenthal shared the most important quote he heard that day, which was: “Your success is someone else’s miracle. You working hard is going to help someone else in the future too.”

Azaria Asfaw’s greatest takeaway was Hoffman’s advice to “become a problem solver because the best way to find success is to find the problem.”

Kylie Gorsky said she found it interesting that in answering most questions, Hoffman associated himself with another CEO or successful name, stating that this was evidence of “how hard he works,” “his network” and his “ability to reach out.”

Through the entrepreneur program at LHS, students are expanding their own networks as they learn firsthand from successful entrepreneurs.

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