Higher education will become the foundation of my growth and future opportunities as a future business professional. As a graduate student at Michigan State University on the Public and Corporate accounting track, I have seen firsthand how advanced education can open doors, help develop critical skills, and prepare individuals to make meaningful contributions to the business world. When I first began studying accounting, I was drawn to the profession because of its role in supporting organizations and individuals through financial transparency and accountability. As I progressed through my undergraduate degree, I realized that accounting is much more than numbers. Accounting involves analytical thinking, problem solving, and ethical judgment. While I have had the ability to enhance these skills in my undergraduate program, higher education will allow me to further these skills through rigorous courses, group discussions, and real-world scenarios. My experience inside and outside the classroom have reinforced the value of continuing to pursue higher education. Through leadership roles such as serving as treasurer for the MSU Dane Club, I have been responsible for creating budgets, overseeing fundraising efforts, and ensuring financial responsibility. These responsibilities have allowed me to apply the concepts I have learned in the classroom thus far while developing leadership skills. Higher education will only serve to enhance these skills and allow me to contribute even more meaningfully to the MSU Dance Club this year given my increased financial knowledge. Additionally, my professional experiences have demonstrated the importance of continuous learning. Through internships with leading accounting firms, I have gained exposure to the nature of the accounting profession including the growth of technology and AI. These experiences at Deloitte and PwC, have shown me success in business and how it requires a commitment to a lifetime of learning and growth with changing technology. Pursuing a master's degree, will allow me to deepen my technical expertise needed to navigate this rapidly changing industry. As I prepare for my future career in audit, higher education will continue to help my future by providing specialized knowledge and opportunities that will help me serve as a qualified auditor. Auditors play a crucial role in promoting financial reporting to individuals and helping show risk. I will gain advanced knowledge of accounting standards, practices, and strategies, to benefit and contribute greater value to the client and individuals making financial choices. Investing in higher education is an investment in future leaders and professionals. For me, it is a pathway to achieve my goals in the business world, expanding my opportunities, and developing necessary skills for a rigorous industry. Through continued education, I am building the foundation for a successful career and a future dedicated to helping organizations thrive.

My interest in accounting has developed greatly in the past couple years. It all started back in high school when I took a class by my teacher Mrs. Walker. She really opened my eyes into the world of accounting at such a young age. Everything naturally clicked for me from the neat ledgers to the perfect balance on each side, I liked how perfect accounting was. Knowing that I really enjoyed the class, I decided to continue this passion at Michigan State University. Attending Michigan State University has been perfect for me as they are known for an amazing business program and have shown time and time again the prestigiousness of the Eli Broad Business College. I knew attending such a prestigious school would allow me to take classes that not only help further my education, but my accounting knowledge at a higher level. After my undergraduate, I plan to continue pursuing and challenging myself in the accounting world. I plan to continue to get my master's in accounting and focusing on the CPA exam. Having the CPA certification will allow me to get farther into my career and lead me to better positions and opportunities. After gaining some experience in the Audit field for a couple years, I plan to work towards my CFE certification. Having both my CPA and CFE will help me greatly in my endeavors moving forward. I plan from there, to move into forensic accounting. Forensic accounting is such an incredible goal of mine and the ability to stop those using fraudulent accountants and hurting our system is so important to the world. Using my knowledge of accounting and the correct ethical practices, I plan to work in forensic accounting and specificity the FBI a couple years later. I really want to make a difference in the world and feel this course of action gives me the best change to make the impact I strive for. By pushing myself during my undergraduate studies and future endeavors I hope to prepare myself for these future goals. As you can see, from high school to now, my love for accounting has grown and my future of accounting is far from over. I plan to keep pursuing my degree and putting these funds to good use in furthering my future. I hope to one day get to the FBI and my dreams, but for now I will take it one step at a time.

This scholarship overall would help me tremendously with college expenses. As said above, college for in-state students can range around $9,377 and can be even greater for certain schools. I am currently a sophomore at Michigan State University, studying accounting and can feel the struggle of paying for tuition. In high school, I feel no one properly talks about the struggles with money and how you are expected to pay for college. Not even the advisors here give much more advice than to take out loans, loans, and more loans. It is a struggle because no one wants to be paying back loans their whole life, but there seems to be no other way. At Michigan State University, tuition is roughly $12,000 per semester, $24,000 per year, or better seen as $96,000 for a 4-year degree. This number to me is outrageous and impossible for anyone to simply be able to afford that out of pocket. Due to this, many people try and apply for scholarships. It is troubling though because thousands of people at a time are applying for a single scholarship and everyone is doing what they can in order to afford college and the cost that comes with it. This seems like a consistent cycle between loans and scholarships, it is near impossible for a single person to be able to afford degrees anymore. This scholarship would benefit me by using this money to go towards my tuition. I am a big believer that every penny counts and every dollar certainly counts when it comes to college and tuition costs. With my degree in accounting, I plan to keep pursuing schooling and achieve my master's degree. From there I will be studying for the CPA exam. This exam is to able to be a certified public accountant, which includes 150 credit hours, and 2,000 hours in experience, and consists of 4, four-hour long exams covering the entirety of accounting and its practices. Using this certification and my degrees I plan to have a successful career as an accountant working at a firm. Overall, this scholarship would greatly better me and my future in accounting. Tuition and college expenses can be brutal, but with every scholarship, college gets a little easier in order to pay for. Getting this scholarship would allow me to leave the stress of affording college behind and focus on my studies and make sure I reach my future goals in accounting.

I believe I deserve the Beyond the C.L.O.U.D scholarship for many reasons. Being a woman in the business world already has its troubles, but being in accounting raises more challenges. I currently attend Michigan State University as a sophomore accounting major. I chose accounting as I was inspired greatly by my high school accounting teacher. She made all the information seem interesting and brought me to like accounting and everything it had to offer. I had always been so inspired by the women before me in powerful positions in the business world and knew I wanted to be the same. After attending my four-year undergrad at Michigan State, I plan to pursue my career further with my master's degree, while also studying for my CPA. The CPA exams consist of four, four-hour long exams, that have a pass rate of around 40-50% for each exam. These rigorous exams are extremely challenging to anyone, but so important to move up in the accounting world. From there, I plan to work in my field for a couple of years, working in the audit department at one of the big four accounting firms. These are the top accounting firms in the world and have proven time and time again to be beneficial to any accountant. From there I plan to focus on my CFE, or certified fraud examiner, and later be able to take my experience and certifications and work for the FBI. Each step I am taking from classes to certifications is just a baby step toward getting my dream role of working for the FBI. In a broad overview, only about 30% of FBI employees are women. This percentage is staggeringly low and needs to be brought up. This is also the main reason I decided I wanted to pursue such a rigorous course load and years of schooling, I knew I wanted to give more women representation in the FBI. Having this scholarship would allow me to further my education through my Master's degree and help lead towards the cost of taking these certifications. Tuition and books can be very expensive over time, so having a scholarship especially one that empowers women in STEM and business is so important. I believe wanting to help one's community and having this movement where women can be in business just like men is so crucial. I am happy to say I live in a world where it is empowering for women to be in these higher roles since the FBI is my life goal. I hope to be able to spread awareness and want other women to join the FBI, to help get those percentages up. I believe it is very crucial to have women in the business world, and acquiring this scholarship would be my first stepping stone to achieving these goals.

I believe there are many thoughts to be had about the Ode to Millennials-Gen Z text. I believe one of the greatest challenges of all generations to be technology. Technology evolves every day all the time right before our eyes, to the point newer generations can barely keep up. I believe the argument between who is responsible for all the wrong doings in life is both generations. I believe in life everyone always blame the generation before, no matter what it’s how it goes. Everyone blames everyone else but themselves for the screwed up world we live in. I think everyone needs to take into accountant the impact all generations have had on this world. No one generation has screwed it up completely and it’s not one generations job to fix it. Truth be told, when Gen Z gets older the whole circle will continue. We will blame the younger generations for stuff they must fix and they will blame us for being the causes. It’s human nature to blame those around us. We need to all take responsibility for our actions and know we are all doing the best we can do in the crazy world we live in. No matter what generation you live in, everyone is going through something and everyone fights through it everyday. Every person is a warrior in their own way and there’s no point in blaming a certain generation or age when it’s all of us collectively.

My interest in accounting has developed greatly in the past couple years. It all started back in high school when I took a class by my teacher Mrs. Walker. She really opened my eyes into the world of accounting at such a young age. Everything naturally clicked for me from the neat ledgers to the perfect balance on each side, I liked how perfect accounting was. Knowing that I really enjoyed the class, I decided to continue this passion at Michigan State University. Attending Michigan State University has been perfect for me as they are known for an amazing business program and have shown time and time again the prestigiousness of the Eli Broad Business College. I knew attending such a prestigious school would allow me to take classes that not only help further my education, but my accounting knowledge at a higher level. After my undergraduate, I plan to continue pursuing and challenging myself in the accounting world. I plan to continue to get my masters in Accounting and focusing on the CPA exam. Having the CPA certification will allow me to get farther into my career and lead me to better positions and opportunities. After gaining some experience in the Audit field for a couple years, I plan to work towards my CFE certification. Having both my CPA and CFE will help me greatly in my endeavors moving forward. I plan from there, to move into forensic accounting. Forensic accounting is so a important ti me and the ability to stop those using fraudulent accountants and money is so important to the world. Using my knowledge of accounting and the correct ethical practices, I plan to work in forensic accounting and specificity the FBI a couple years later. I really want to make a difference in the world and working for the FBI and being able to stop criminals and others who think it is okay to take advantage of a system, need to be properly looked at. Every year forensic accountants hold those accountable for millions of dollars in fraud and I want to carry on that legacy and help fight crime, but still doing what I love, accounting. As you can see, from high school to now, my love for accounting has grown and my future of accounting is far from over. I plan to keep pursuing my degree and putting these funds to good use in furthering my future. I hope to one day get to the FBI and my dreams, but for now I will take it one step at a time.