GSCPA Hosts Annual Rising Professionals Program
The Rising Professionals Program began at Smith & Howard in 2015 and was named SHARP. GSCPA started hosting this event at its offices in 2016. The program is designed to educate high school students about the benefits of a career in the accounting profession and the day-to-day lives of CPAs.
Nearly thirty high school juniors and seniors from five high schools attended the event. Participants were required to submit an application prior to attendance.
Students heard from various industry professionals, including current GSCPA Board of Directors member Chris Conrad and Evelyn Rosier, the GSCPA Diversity and Inclusion Task Force chair.
Students learned about accounting and business through many sessions. The most interactive of these sessions taught students about management styles and working together. This session titled "Pins and Straws" showed groups of students how to work as a team to build a structure with minimal materials and group leaders who were each instructed to lead utilizing different leadership styles. Kendra LaFleur of CRI led this session.
Additional activities included a networking session with Michael Lange of Aprio, a "Day in the Life" of a CPA session with Josh Sanders of PwC Spain, and an accounting leadership panel that offered career stories and words of advice for students. The panel consisted of Cecily Welch of Welch Advisors and Doug Moses of Mauldin and Jenkins.
Before the event, each student's application was scored based on factors such as qualifying questions and essays. Throughout this year's program, students were continually scored by Chris Conrad of Smith & Howard based on their participation. Scores were tallied, and ten students were awarded scholarships based on their performance at the end of the program.
Scholarship contributors included:
Aprio (a $1,000 scholarship);
Deloitte (a $1,000 scholarship and a $500 scholarship);
GSCPA (a $1,000 scholarship and a $500 scholarship);
McNair, McLemore, Middlebrooks & Co. ($1000 scholarship)
Smith & Howard (two $1,000 scholarships
TOP Solutions Group (a $500 scholarship)
Welch Financial Advisors (a $500 scholarship)
For future events, GSCPA will be looking for volunteers and scholarship donations. If you or your firm would like to participate or donate, please contact Callie Hammond at chammond@gscpa.org or 404-504-2953.