What led you to choose a double major in accounting and finance?

In high school I always thought I might like finance and accounting. When I got to SNC and took my first accounting class, I had a great teacher, Professor Vandenberg. She inspired me to stick with it, and it turned out I really loved it.

Which other opportunities within your field did you pursue?

I was an academic peer mentor for accounting, which was very cool. I was not only teaching other students but also refreshing the concepts in my own head, which was definitely a big help. To see how students in different classes learn, and find different ways to phrase things and help them understand the material was very rewarding.

Another one of my experiences that I really, really liked was VITA, which is a class that St. Norbert has where we do tax returns for people in the community who need help. The college was involving us in our community and helping us see things that maybe we hadn’t been exposed to yet. Not only did it help with our studying but also helped us see how the real world is. That was one of my favorite classes.

Who influenced you the most during your time at St. Norbert?

Jason Haen (Accounting) showed me that there’s more to accounting than tax returns! He held such a wide variety of jobs before becoming a professor, all the way up to CFO. It reassured me that I would have lots of opportunities to try different things after graduation.

How did you find the job opportunity with CLA?

I went to the SNC career internship fair a couple of years ago, and I got an internship at CLA. I’ve worked there every year since. Last year they offered me a full-time position, and I accepted it. I’ll start in September, but this summer I’m going to study for the CPA exam so that’ll be pretty busy.

Most people say, “You’ll get an internship in the last couple of years at college,” but I started as a sophomore. I just went to the career fair thinking, “Oh I’ll just network and meet some people,” but they offered me a job, so I took it! And that’s kind of how I’ve gotten all my jobs. I’ve always gotten them through the career fair, so I'd say that's been a big help.