Many people would agree that Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple Computers, was one of the most influential people in the world, certainly in the field of technology. Under Jobs's direction, Apple Inc. developed some of the world's most innovative and exciting technological inventions.
Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, to Joanne Schieble and Abdulfattah Jandali. At the time, the two were busy young graduate students at the University of Wisconsin, and they decided it was best for them to give up the child for adoption.
A short time later, the boy was adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs of Mountain View, California, and named Steven Paul Jobs. The family home was within California's Silicon Valley, an area known for its many computer and electronics companies.
Steve's father, Paul, was a machinist, and when Steve was a young boy, the two would spend hours in the family's garage taking apart and rebuilding electronics—helpful practice for Steve's future career.
In elementary school, Steve didn't stand out—at least not in a good way. He preferred playing jokes on his classmates and teachers to completing his school work. In the fourth grade, a teacher named Imogene Hill saw that young Steve had potential. Hill was finally able to convince Steve to take his studies more seriously. How did she do it? She rewarded him with candy and five-dollar bills from her own money. Later, Steve spoke about Mrs. Hill fondly, calling her "one of the saints of my life."
In 1969, at age thirteen, Steve met an eighteen-year-old university freshman named Steve "Woz" Wozniak, his future Apple cofounder. Although they were different ages, the two had a lot in common. They shared a love of electronics and computer design, and they were both leaders rather than followers. In his book Woz, Steve Wozniak said of their meeting, "Typically, it was really hard for me to explain to people the kind of design stuff I worked on, but Steve got it right away. And I liked him. He was kind of skinny and wiry and full of energy. Steve and I got close right away, even though he was still in high school. We talked electronics, we talked about music we liked, and we traded stories."
Steve and Woz's first "business" together began in 1972. Woz had read an article in an electronics magazine about a device that could be attached to a telephone and could hack into the telephone company's main computer and allow people to make free long-distance phone calls. They decided to try to make one, and they succeeded. The pair began selling their devices to students living in college dormitories. Of course, the devices were illegal, so the business didn't last long. Steve and Woz stopped selling them after they were nearly caught by the police.
When Steve finished high school, he enrolled in classes at Reed College, a private liberal arts college in Oregon. The tuition for Reed was very expensive, and Steve's parents could barely afford it. Nevertheless, they wanted their son to succeed, so they were prepared to spend almost their entire life's savings on his education.
However, as it turned out, Steve didn't stay at Reed for a long time. He dropped out after just six months, later saying, "I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK.
Imogene Hill was ____.
Steve's high school girlfriend
a teacher who influenced Steve
Steve's elementary school classmate