If you haven’t already, it’s time for you to meet 38-year-old Tony Elion Jr., a law student here at Penn State. Elion is a U.S. Veteran, philanthropist, author, musician, playwright, teacher and investor.
Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Pennsylvania is new ground for Elion. Throughout his youth, Elion moved around a lot, something he attributes to his being such a well-rounded individual. Elion was raised by his grandparents, shuffled from his mother to his father, and was on his own at the age of seventeen.
Tony Elion Jr. is referred of “The Artistic Jack of All Trades”. Without any hesitation, he credits the city of Memphis for this title:
“In Memphis, you have to be able to do different things and thrive in different environments,” Elion says. “The city is a place where everybody has to have something that they are good at and something that they can use to make money.”
Tony Elion Jr. has already received two bachelor’s and a master’s degree, and is now studying to get his fourth degree here at PSU. His first three degrees came from Middle Tennessee State University. He received his first two degrees before entering the Navy and then went back to school to earn his master’s.
Elion also taught English in Spain for a while before his time in the Navy. He chose to sign up for the armed forces due to his search for financial stability. The Navy afforded him opportunities to get him out of his debt.
After serving, he decided to come to law school through the use of his GI Bill. He is leaning towards advocacy law to help people understand their rights and even teaches entrepreneurship at the local prison.
Elion was on the board of directors for Meals on Wheels via the Law School all throughout the last year. Elion Jr. says that Meals on Wheels gave him great insight when he began to create his very own nonprofit organization called Love Now, Inc.
Having been to thirty-two different countries and six different continents, Elion Jr. saw many people who need various resources, and he knew that there was no time to wait on change — change needed to happen now.
Last year, Elion started things off by asking the big question: where can we start? He realized that in the Penn State School of International Affairs, where he studies law, many students were coming from all over the world and had never experienced winter, so they did not own a coat. Elion took the initiative to buy a bunch of coats and gave them away for free.
“It wasn’t a coat drive where we dropped off coats,” Elion Jr says. “We went out and gave them away. We got coats from American Eagle, Walmart, everywhere.”
In November, he realized that not only were these students too far from home to get back for Thanksgiving, but they did not celebrate Thanksgiving in their countries. Elion seized the opportunity to expose them to American culture and to learn about theirs as well.
Tony Elion Jr. has become highly successful in the stock market and has even written a book about it, titled, “Sailor to Student: How I Made a Quarter of a Million Dollars in the Stock Market, and You Can, Too.”
Elion says he became involved in the stock market during his time working for Amazon. While he was on a military leave of absence, Amazon gave him stock in the company. During the time he was gone, his stock grew from $160 per share to $960 per share in four and a half years.
“I decided that this is where I needed to invest money because I saw the growth through my Amazon stock. It blew up.”
You can learn more about Tony Elion Jr. by clicking on his website here.
