Business runs in my family. I remember having conversations about investments, savings, and taxes from an early age. Living in my family, I would have learned many of these things regardless of if I was interested in them, but I was. Starting in fourth grade, my family’s Wall Street Journal subscription (print edition, no less) became my breakfast reading material of choice. Now that I am looking at colleges and careers, I find myself gravitating towards business. Coming from a long line of small-business owners, I have come to appreciate the importance of running a business well. A business cannot be well-run without a good understanding of how its money is flowing. Thus, the understanding of accounting is paramount. Essentially, accounting is the language of business. A solid accounting foundation is necessary to succeed in the business world. This is why I am planning on majoring in accounting. As I mentioned, accounting is a great major for someone who wants to go into the business world. Even if I do not end up working as an accountant, I can apply my accounting knowledge and skills to many other areas of business. I have already taken a couple of dual credit accounting classes at the local community college. I did well in them, and I enjoyed them. I plan to continue my accounting education at a four-year college next fall. After I graduate and become an accountant, there are many possible career paths. Since accounting is necessary for every business, I could work at almost any company and in any industry. There are also lots of job opportunities working for accounting firms, the government, and large corporations. While these are not bad options, I think that the most intriguing and exciting opportunity is to use my accounting knowledge to become an entrepreneur. Although I could use my business knowledge to start various small businesses, I will most likely become an entrepreneur by starting my own accounting company. After I earn my accounting master’s degree, I plan to take the exam to become a Certified Public Accountant. After I pass this test, I can open my own accounting firm. I believe that an entrepreneurial career will benefit my life in many ways. I plan to have children, and I want to be present in their lives. This will be hard to do if I am working a nine-to-five job. Being an entrepreneur requires a lot of hard work, but it will also give me flexibility. I will be able to choose what jobs I take on and how much I work during different seasons of my life. I will be able to manage my schedule to prioritize my family and pursue my other interests. I can work as hard as I want and whenever I want to. I plan to use entrepreneurism to help support my family and do what I love on my own terms. Unfortunately, in today’s world, many entrepreneurs fail. I believe that most of this stems from a failure to understand the business side of running a company. Pursuing a passion is great, but you need to ensure that you make a profit while doing it. With my accounting knowledge, I believe that I will be able to avoid this problem. My business knowledge, combined with the wisdom gained from growing up in a family where my dad, grandpa, and great-grandpa all ran their own company, will give me a huge advantage when starting and running my own business. Through my hard work, determination, and perseverance, I know that I will be successful in my future business endeavors.

My relationship with Jesus as affected my life in many ways. Without my faith, my life would look a lot different. I was born and raised in a Christian household. I became a Christian when I was about eight years old, and I have followed Christ since then. Throughout all of my identities and roles in life – sister, daughter, runner, swimmer, friend, classmate, and many more – my identity in Christ is my most important and true identity. My faith impacts every area of my life, including my educational journey. I have been homeschooled since kindergarten. This has allowed me to be educated from a Christian perspective. I am really grateful that my parents made this choice. Being homeschooled has really deepened my faith. I have learned how Christianity connects to every subject, whether it be math, science, history, art, athletics, business, or anything in between. As I prepare to go off to college, I know that my faith will be tested by new ideas, situations, and people. Even though I will be attending Oklahoma Christian University, which is a Christian college, I know that I will truly have to put in the work to grow in my relationship with Jesus. I plan to continue to implement my faith throughout my educational journey. My plan is to major in accounting and possibly double-major in finance. While I know that accounting does not usually come to mind when thinking about careers that emphasize the Christian faith, managing money is actually very important in a Christian’s life. The Bible is filled with examples, illustrations, and wisdom about financial matters. The Bible is full of verses reminding us to be good stewards of our money because it really is not ours; God has only entrusted it to us. Knowing how to put that money to use to be a good steward and advance the Gospel is a vital part of the Christian life. As an accountant and business professional, I plan to use my knowledge to help others, especially other Christians and Christian organizations. Even nonprofits and churches need someone to keep track of and manage their money. I want to volunteer my time to help these organizations. I also want to be a light to the world around me by helping those who cannot afford a tax preparer or financial advisor. Although often overlooked, accountants are an important part of the body of Christ. Finally, my Christian values and beliefs will make me stand out from others in the business world. My Christian beliefs, values, and ethics will guide me throughout my career in business by providing me with a firm foundation. I will always strive to be honest, patient, self-controlled, disciplined, hard-working, and have integrity. I know that my career will have many ups and downs, but as long as I trust God and follow Him, I will succeed. Indeed, Proverbs 2:7 says “He holds success in store for the upright.” I have heard that there are three types of Christians: those that go, those that send, and those that are disobedient. I believe that my calling is to be a sender. While I also work to share the gospel with others, my strength is to manage things behind the scenes to help and empower others in their missions. The wisdom that I gain from God and His Word, combined with the knowledge that I will gain from a college education, will allow me to share the good news with the world and empower others to do the same.

My grandfather, Doug, served in the Air National Guard for twenty years. He has been one of the most influential people in my life. Growing up, I lived next door to my grandparents, and I am still very close to them. From an early age, I was learning life lessons from my grandpa. When I was young, my grandpa would give me chores to do to earn money. These included picking up acorns, sticks, and pine cones in the yard and raking leaves. As I have gotten older, he still gives me jobs to do to earn a little extra money. He not only taught me about yard care, but also about the value of hard work. He also taught me a lot about what to do with my money. He is really big on financial investments such as the stock market. I owe much of my knowledge and success to my grandfather’s wisdom. One of my favorite stories regarding my grandpa’s time in the military is when he had to land a plane without any landing gear. When my grandpa was preparing to land, his plane’s landing gear failed to deploy. He had to circle for a while to burn off fuel. While he was doing this, the landing strip was covered with a special foam to make the landing safer. My grandpa was able to land the plane without any injuries. While I know that this is actually not that hard to do if you are an experienced pilot, this story still amazes me every time I hear it. While my grandpa served in the Air National Guard, he also worked part-time at the family business that his father had started. After he retired from the military, my grandpa began to work full-time in the family business, which sells and services financial equipment. When his father died, my grandpa took over the company. My grandpa grew the company by about five times throughout his career. When he first joined, he was the third employee. When he left, the company had about twenty-five employees. Now that he is retired, my grandpa has plenty of time to work on his yard. More often than not, when I pull up to his house, he is out in the yard, mowing, raking, or picking up acorns. He also enjoys spending time with me and his seventeen other grandchildren. He loves taking us out to ice cream, and is infamous for getting each grandkid ten scoops of ice cream on their tenth birthday. He loves being around people and investing in them. Above all, my grandpa encourages me to smile and enjoy life. He reminds me to make friends everywhere I go in life. When he was in the Air National Guard, he had friends all over the world. He really enjoyed this and still makes friends wherever he goes. Whenever I have a stern look or frown on my face, he tells me to have a “big smile.” Every time I do yardwork or go out for ice cream, I am reminded of my grandpa and his great example that I try to live up to.

From the age of four years old, I have been involved in youth sports. With a youth sports career spanning basketball, soccer, gymnastics, swimming, and running, I consider myself to be very well-versed in the youth sports world. Throughout my youth sports experiences, I have learned many valuable lessons. These lessons have helped to shape my character and make me who I am today. My youth sports experiences have led me to pursue my dream of swimming in college. Additionally, I plan to continue being involved in my community through youth sports, even as I transition into adulthood. Youth sports instilled valuable life lessons into me that I want to pass on to the next generation of young athletes. Youth sports have been a big part of my life for years. Whether I am swimming in a swim meet, running in a cross-country meet, or cheering on one of my brothers in his baseball game, it is rare that I have a sports-free weekend. While this might sound exhausting to some, I love it. I grew up in a very competitive and athletic family, and participating in sports was a given. In fact, my father was one of my first youth sports coaches. While he does not coach me anymore, he, and the rest of my family, are very supportive of me and my younger siblings’ sports teams. My family has shown me the positive impact that youth sports make in a community, and I want to pass down this sports legacy to my own children. I firmly believe that youth sports are one of the best experiences that a child can have. I made my best friends through youth sports. I learned the values of discipline, teamwork, perseverance, time management, and hard work by playing sports. As I age out of youth sports, these values and my experiences have inspired me to make a difference in the lives of younger athletes. I have volunteered my time at cross county meets, track meets, basketball games, and swim meets. In addition, I work to encourage younger athletes in their sports journeys and encourage non-athletes to get involved in a sport. During my sophomore year of high school, when I was unable to compete because of a torn ACL, I helped manage my track team. Going through this time of being unable to participate in sports taught me many lessons. Now, I want to share those lessons with other athletes. I encourage others to never take their athletic abilities for granted or complain about a meet, game, or workout because you never know when you could lose your ability to play. I know that playing sports is a true privilege, and I want every child to be able to share in this treasure. As I am about to end my youth sports career and begin my journey into the world of collegiate athletics, I still want to remain involved in youth sports. I plan to encourage and motivate my seven younger siblings in their sports endeavors, as well as possibly coaching a sports team in the summer between school semesters. When I have my own children, there is a high possibility that my future husband and I will be volunteering as some of their coaches. Hopefully one day I will get to attend my grandchildren’s sports games. Wherever I end up in life, I desire to support and encourage youth sports.

As a Christian, I try to ensure that all areas of my life reflect Christ. In this stage of my life that includes my athletics, academics, church involvement, social life, and spiritual life. As I prepare to begin the next chapter of my life by attending college and obtaining an accounting degree, I will make sure that I do not lose sight of my beliefs, values, and ethics. Honesty, integrity, patience, self-control, discipline, and hard work will all be vital as I begin this journey. My honesty and integrity will make me stand out in the business world. Honesty and integrity are especially important in business transactions. No one wants to work with someone who is dishonest and lacks integrity. Lying and cheating also displease God. Proverbs 20:10 says “The Lord detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him.” In my future career I will work hard to never lie, deceive, cheat, or misrepresent information, especially as an accountant. I also want the Fruit of the Spirit to show in me as I navigate the business world. Specifically, I believe that patience and self-control are important characteristics of a good businesswoman. Proverbs 16:32 states “Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.” I will demonstrate patience by listening to others, speaking kindly, and prioritizing long-term gains over short-term benefits. I will also demonstrate self-control in the business world. I believe that self-control in the business world means not taking on unnecessary debt and being a good steward of the money that you have. Proverbs 22:7 mentions that “the borrower is slave to the lender.” While a successful business may have some debt, I will advocate against exorbitant amounts of debt. I will strive to ensure that I am a good steward in the business world by encouraging whatever companies I am involved with to give back to the community. Finally, I will always work hard and be disciplined no matter where I end up in the world of business. The older that I have gotten, the more I realize the value of hard work and being disciplined. Sadly, I have also noticed how few people are willing to put in the hours and work hard to achieve their goals. Not only do I want to work hard for God, my family, and myself, I also want to set a good example for others through my hard work and effort. I take much encouragement from Proverbs 14:23, which says “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” I know that my hard work will make me stand out from others. By working hard, I will also find success in the business world. Proverbs 12:24 says “Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.” I hope to use my success in my career to be a light and point others toward Christ. In conclusion, my Christian beliefs, values, and ethics will guide me throughout my career in business by providing me with a firm foundation. I will always strive to be honest, patient, self-controlled, disciplined, hard-working, and have integrity. I know that my career will have many ups and downs, but as long as I trust God and follow Him, I will succeed. Indeed, Proverbs 2:7 says “He holds success in store for the upright.”