Scholarship recognizes graduate students on nontraditional paths to CPA licensure

Five outstanding students received the 2015—2016 AICPA John L. Carey Scholarship Award.

The winners, listed below, each received a $5,000 scholarship to help cover tuition and other educational expenses:

• Tegyanem Gizaw, University of Missouri—Kansas City
• John Jakmides, The Ohio State University
• Sayaka Ross, San Diego State University
• Charles Walper, University of Texas at Austin
• Hayley Wilk, University of Michigan

The one-year scholarship, which is awarded to full-time graduate-level students from liberal arts and other nontraditional business backgrounds who are pursuing graduate accounting degrees and plan to become CPAs, is funded by the AICPA Foundation in honor of John L. Carey, who retired from the AICPA in 1969 after a 40-year career with the organization.

Recipients were selected by a task force that considered their applications, academic transcripts, recommendation letters, and personal essays. Applicants were chosen based on academic achievement, leadership, and commitment to pursuing a CPA license.

The scholarship is part of the AICPA’s Legacy Scholars Program, which was created in 2011 and awards recipients a one-year AICPA scholarship aimed at helping students develop the soft skills needed to sustain a successful career through service. They devote eight hours each semester to planning and executing events on campus to advocate for the accounting profession.