College ambassadors look to spread awareness of accounting opportunities

By Jessica Salerno, OSCPA senior content manager

For college students, the world is full of exciting possibilities. Members of The Ohio Society of CPAs’ 2018-2019 class of College Ambassadors are determined to ensure they consider accounting to be one of those.

“I know accounting can open so many doors for so many people,” said Peyton Brown, senior and ambassador at The Ohio State University. “There’s such a stigma around accounting, and whenever I tell people back home I’m an accounting major they joke about being a bean counter and doing tax returns. And I tell them, ‘Actually there’s a whole other side of it you wouldn’t even believe.’”

Brown is part of the group of 18 students who recently gathered at the OSCPA office in Columbus to brainstorm ways to help build the accounting pipeline at their respective campuses. They will speak to classrooms, hold informational sessions and host other campus activities meant to inform students about the benefits of accounting and dispel common accounting myths along the way.

“There are a lot of good opportunities that students don’t know about, some might not even know what a CPA stands for,” said Luke Richtermeyer, a junior and also an ambassador at OSU.

Richtermeyer has had an important accounting influence in his life by way of his mother, OSCPA Past Executive Board Chair Sandy Richtermeyer, CPA. Growing up he said he regularly met her students who acted as mentors for him, offering advice and a view into the varied careers the accounting profession can offer.

Kayla Keys, an ambassador at Akron University similarly hopes to illuminate students who might not know of the opportunities available to them with accounting. She said she can relate to feeling unsure of what steps to take in your future.

“I’m excited for the freshmen coming into college,” she said. “There was a point in time where I was listening to what everybody was saying, but I couldn’t figure out what fit best for me. And I’m excited to tell the freshmen you have all these options available to you.”

You can learn more about the Ambassador Program by heading to the Student Ambassador page.