Investing in kids

SAS’ latest investment? Chess
Feb 28, 2014, 2:37pm EST
Lauren K. Ohnesorge
Staff Writer-Triangle Business Journal

SAS Inc. is taking a break from big data and investing in the brains of tomorrow.

Sort of.

The Cary-based software firm is sponsoring what will be the largest scholastic chess tournament in North Carolina history.

The North Carolina K-12 Chess Championship will bring the state’s brainiest young chess masters to downtown Raleigh tomorrow.

The event, which begins tomorrow, is part of SAS’s ongoing efforts to promote science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.

And it happens at the Raleigh Convention Center.

So why chess?

“Scholastic chess helps improve concentration, develops logical and critical thinking, promotes creative problem solving and rewards hard work,” says SAS spokesperson Shannon Heath. And those skills? “Invaluable to STEM curriculum and the economy of the future.”

The tournament, which features kindergarten chess masters through those in the 12th grade, will be hosted by Chess Achieves.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com