NBA Hall of Famer Chris Bosh was one of the best big men in the NBA for the better part of 10 years. Bosh’s fun nature, eloquence and willingness to sacrifice made him one of the most liked players. Bosh made his impact felt on the court with his passion and his unique skill set, but after blood clots forced him into early retirement in 2017, the 11 times all-star is now making his impact felt off the court.

In late 2020 Bosh was named the Dean of the DRL (Drone Racing League) Academy, the league’s digital youth STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) system. With Bosh taking such a unique path post-playing career, I thought it deserved more attention to dig deeper into where his love and dedication for STEM started.

Dean Bosh’s affinity for STEM began when he was young; Bosh attended Lincoln high school and humanities/communications magnet. He was part of the national honor society and numerous student engineering organizations while also being named High School player of the year by Basketball America. Being raised by who he described as “extremely geeky parents,” academic excellence was always of significant focus for him. Bosh’s mother, Freida Bosh, ran a computer help company before working at Texas Instruments. His father, Noel, did engineering and designing for multiple companies.

Following high school, Bosh decided to attend Georgia Tech, majoring in graphic design and computer engineering. Whenever Bosh found time between his busy basketball schedule and classes, he would often code. I was highly impressed when I saw this, considering that he was in school almost 20 years ago. People worldwide are scrambling to get their feet wet in the world of coding, so Bosh getting a head start on that speaks volumes to how advanced he is. Bosh has carried this interest in coding into the work he’s done later in his career as he’s a massive advocate for the non-profit ”code.org“. Code.org works to increase computer/coding literacy in underfunded schools, and the website has grown in popularity since Bosh publicly endorsed the site.

Bosh was the topic of an article written by Wired in 2013. The article talked about why Bosh feels it’s crucial for kids to code and that he would love to teach kids about coding and science-related subjects after his basketball career. Bosh even gets into how he used coding in his games throughout his career. The article is very intriguing, and it gives a unique insight into the mind of a brilliant individual. You can find the piece here.

Learning about Bosh’s upbringing and natural interest in STEM makes his being hired as the Dean of the Drone Racing League academy incredibly fitting. As Dean of the DRL academy, Bosh educates the youth to embrace STEM principles and teaches about STEM’s role in drone racing. Bosh wants to urge kids to get into STEM, saying, “People always say STEM is the future. I believe it’s pretty much right now, it’s really the present”. Bosh also stated, “hopefully the academy will continue to grow and will get more kids interested in signing up.”