In high school, Duluth native Herb Fritch ’73 landed a scholarship that allowed him to go to Carleton, and it changed the trajectory of his life. Now, he wants to give the same opportunity to current students like him.
While Fritch was at Carleton, he was laser-focused on preparing for a career as an actuary. Carleton didn’t have the specific classes he needed, but Fritch worked closely with professors to design independent studies that allowed him to complete the first two actuarial exams while he was still in school. This creativity and ambition proved helpful: he started work at a Milwaukee consulting firm right after graduation.
But it was his time on the basketball court, he says, that gave him the skills to lead companies, which he did later in his career. “I was a slow little guy,” he says of his modest talents on the court. “I didn’t even start on my high school team. But at Carleton, I was captain of the team my senior year.” The honor did more than just recognize his efforts on the squad; it forced him to be a better teammate, competitor, and leader.
The chance to lead a team and craft his own coursework would have been difficult at a larger school. And though he might not have fully understood it at the time, these broad opportunities helped give him the tools to succeed not just at his first job, but the ones that came decades later. He is currently president of the senior segment of Cigna-Healthspring, which creates private health plans for Medicare-eligible individuals.
Today, Fritch and his wife support students of modest means who come from non-metro areas through the Herb ’73 and Barbara Fritch Scholarship. He hopes the recipients will take full advantage of Carleton’s opportunities, just like he did, to prepare them for the world just beyond graduation and the one they’ll lead years later. “Carleton gave me both the education and the life experiences that prepared me to succeed,” he says.