My name is Christina Grow. I'm a sixteen-year-old high school girl senior with a minimum-wage job. The job that I'm currently working at has inspired my career dream which is to be a master accountant and become a CFO. How has it inspired me? My current job is going through a career training school where you help prepare business statements and so on. As I got more trained and higher in position, I began connecting concepts, strategies, and ideas between my job and my recent Accounting classes. I became fond of and even started to enjoy preparing Bank and Financial statements. It amazed me to see what is all a part of the business world on the inside. Along with being the eldest of my family, I am a first-generation college student and have been mostly independent on my college journey so far, except with the help of my school advisor, which I am really lucky to have. I had no prior knowledge from my parents on college schooling so everything I came across, I learned on my own. This has developed my character to where I have that desire to learn and discover new things. Referring to education, I'm very excited to explore new pathways and take amazing opportunities. More about me, I have a passion for music and art, and I believe that art is where true emotion disperses from. I love to sing because it helps release my anxiety and allows me to feel free. It helps drive me to go forth and pursue my career goals and dreams. I also have a specialty in running. I have been a part of my school's Cross Country team for two years and I will say that this being my last year, it has been an honor. My team, along with my parents, are my biggest support in enduring to the end. From being a part of this team, traits of Strength, Determination, and Honor have been instilled in me. I am willing to use these values to pursue my career goals and make anything possible to achieve in my life. This upcoming year 2024, I will graduate high school with my associate in Business. It has taken years of my savings to afford to get this degree and it will be a blessing if I can move forward onto my bachelor's and master's degrees with the help of this scholarship. At this point, I have been slowed to an almost stop on my education because of the high prices of college classes and my low-paid job. This scholarship will help me pursue my career goals by boosting me for my beginning freshmen year at the University of Utah or Western Governor's University in Fall 2024 so that I may proceed to gain my bachelor's and master's degrees. By doing this, I can fulfill my ambition to become a Master Accountant and a Chief Financial Officer. By being a CFO, I can input benefits into the Accounting and Business world and make this exterior world outcome a better place.

When my Aunt had just had a baby, it added to the three kids she already had, all of them five years old and under. It was very hard for her to keep her tiny house clean with a bunch of little kids and to also take care of her kids with a brand-new baby. Her house was messy to the point where it was too dangerous and toxic for a brand-new baby to live in. An experience of me serving my community is when I volunteered to tend my Aunt's kids on the day she had her baby. I was there from sun up to sun down. There was nothing in her house to feed her kids so I was blessed to have one of my relatives come bring us some burritos for lunch. Along with tending all day, I was also cleaning; sorting through a pile of clothes almost taller than me. I was getting really tired and exhausted from being there all day, cleaning and tending until I was blessed by the service of others. One by one, my family and relatives showed up and started helping me clean until before I knew it, there was a whole crew right where once was alone. I couldn't have been more appreciative and thankful for their arrival. My family and relatives were at a party, and when it was over, late in the day, they all came to my Aunt's house and pitched in to help clean her house spotless. We all stayed till midnight cleaning her house and by the end of it, I was wiped out. That experience helped me feel better about my Aunt who was having a rough time. It helped me see how much weight I carried off her shoulders when I volunteered to do that for her. It was a blessing when, in return, I experienced the service of others coming to help me, especially in that time of need. Even though they came to help my Aunt get her house cleaned and her kids taken care of, I still feel like it was a service partly done unto me, and it helped me become grateful for those who step in and volunteer their time to the community.

My interest in becoming an accountant all started with my first accounting teacher. Mrs. Cannon was my beginning inspiration for accounting. She encouraged us to excel in her class and to rise to the top in every concept she taught. She helped me see how accounting can be fun and interesting to learn and do. I could see how difficult it was to interest the kids in the topic, but she was able to do it for many students. I'm very interested to take what I learned in accounting and apply it to real-life businesses to help them be a success. Every accountant begins with a good teacher. Taking my first accounting class, Acct 1110, I had classmates struggle to catch on to the concept or peers who thought it was too boring, hard, or worthless to learn such things, but when I looked upon that class, a new world was open to me. I learned a whole part of life I didn't know existed. The amazement and potential of accounting caught my eye right away and I excelled and rose to the top of the class along with a few others. At first, being a part of the business world was just an idea in my head until I took Acct 1110 and 1120. From that, I knew Accounting was for me. I think that accountants are very important to business and the broader public because no ordinary person can think and do things like an accountant. Accountants must gain proper education before doing business so that they don't make any mistakes. It's very important as accountants are trusted with money, information, business auditing, and management, that they are loyal and honest. "On June 29, 2009, then-U.S. District Judge Denny Chin sentenced Madoff to serve 150 years in prison for running the largest fraudulent scheme in history" (Office of Public Affairs, 2022). Madoff wiped out many people's savings and retirement plans. Accountants are very important to the broader public to keep people's investments safe by keeping the company ahead with accurate numbers. They also must be sure that their company is being honest and not committing any white-collar crimes. Accountants have a vital role in a business; they practically keep the business running as long as they do their job right which that is usually the goal of any accountant. With this growing concern of declining accountants, I would be willing to step up to the bar and take that responsibility. Accountants are needed so that businesses can make strategic decisions because they understand all the complexity of the business's finances, taxes, and the ramifications behind each decision. It sounds complex, boring, or unsettling to be an accountant, but learning what I learned in my accounting class and seeing how much further information and ideas that come with it, it sounds like an amazing world out there. Works Cited: Office of Public Affairs. “Justice Department Announces Total Distribution of Over $4 Billion to Victims of Madoff Ponzi Scheme.” Department of Justice, 28 September 2022, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-total-distribution-over-4-billion-victims-madoff-ponzi-scheme. Accessed 29 July 2023.