On February 5, the Student Accounting Association (SAA) held its first meeting of the spring semester. The meeting began with approximately 20 current SAA members explaining how each one of them obtained their various career opportunities, including summer leadership programs, internships, and full-time permanent positions. The membership point system was discussed as was the fast-approaching Recognition Dinner to be held on May 2.
At the start of the meeting, SAA President Matthew DeCesare welcomed everyone by sharing his story of success in finding an internship. Matthew will be interning at PNC (Pittsburgh location) in the Independent Risk Management area. Among the current SAA officers and chairs who spoke were Jordan Schofield, vice president of finance; Kaitlin Albright, vice president; Kelly Kumetis, senior vice president, and Samantha Adams, Career Day chair. Other guest speakers included Alec Martin, Alexander Hammers, Anthony Maticic, Katherine Williams, Matthew Cocorikis, Kobi Eberly, Megan Rengers, Sophie Cuzzocrea, Victoria Schlott, and Anne Katchmarchi.
The SAA has developed an easy-to-follow membership system. The membership process is based on earning points. To become a member, one must earn at least 5 points. Points can be earned from the following: meetings (1 point each), field trips (1 point) Career Day (up to 2 points), Recognition Dinner (2 points), community service activities (1 point each), and being a member from the previous semester (1 point). In order to receive graduation cords, one must earn at least 5 membership points in their final semester at IUP and have earned at least 5 points during one of the two semesters preceding the semester in which they graduate.
Photo Caption: The 2019 Student Accounting officers include: Kelly Kumetis, senior vice president; Kaitlin Albright, vice president; Jordan Schofield, vice president of finance, and Matthew DeCesare, president.
There are several benefits to becoming a member of the SAA. First, becoming a member will help one to establish and practice networking skills. Events such as the Recognition Dinner, Accounting Career Day and luncheon, and meetings hosting professional speakers give a clear path to help obtain job opportunities in the accounting profession. Another reason is better understanding of the accounting career field. Regularly attending meetings will give knowledge to passing the Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam, shed insights into the job market, and instill knowledge on how to speak to professionals. Another reason to become a member is being able to build a resumé. Being able to include SAA on a resumé opens up a topic for discussion when meeting recruiters. Lastly, having a resumé in the SAA’s resumé book created for recruiters for Career Day is invaluable. Recruiters will have a copy as will Dr. Kim Anderson, the SAA faculty advisor. Dr. Anderson routinely refers back to the resumé book when internship and job openings are brought to her attention.
The upcoming Recognition Dinner was also discussed at the first meeting. The dinner is being held at the Rustic Lodge in Indiana, PA on Thursday May 2nd, 2019. Doors will be opened at 5:00 p.m. with dinner being served at 6:00 p.m. followed by a guest speaker and a recognition segment; the event concludes by 8:15 p.m. Students are not required to be members of the SAA in order to attend. Students interested in attending must submit a $10 deposit to any SAA officer or chair. The deposit will be returned at the close of the dinner; the SAA will keep the deposits for any no-shows. Professional business attire is required. This is one of the many great networking opportunities provided by the SAA for all accounting majors and minors of IUP.
-Jonathan Rorabaugh, Publicity Chair