College of Business reaches out to high school students
Establishing a more useful, powerful and direct link between high school educators and the College of Business was the focus of a September conference.
Clifford Skousen, senior assistant dean of the College of Business, said, “Conferences like these build tremendous goodwill between the high schools and USU’s college of business programs.”
The main focus of the conference was the accounting profession.
Studies have shown many students are either unaware of the potential an accounting degree holds or have negative perceptions of accountants, Skousen said.
Sixty business and accounting teachers and guidance counselors from high schools in northern Utah participated in the conference.
“Bringing high school teachers and counselors to USU campus and helping them to understand career opportunities for their students is an excellent way to attract students to USU,” he said.
The teachers attending the conference had the opportunity to meet and ask questions of USU accounting students, college advisers, recruiters and professional accountants, Skousen said.
Richard Jenson, head of the School of Accountancy, participated in a panel with other professionals from colleges around the state.
“Teachers and advisers would ask questions on advisement issues, admissions at colleges and teaching techniques,” he said.
The purpose of this conference is to “get the best and brightest students at USU and give them some resources before finishing high school,” Jenson said.
The university offers concurrent enrollment classes in high schools to give students a chance to get a good base in accounting and begin their first year at USU as sophomores.
A representative from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants led a workshop introducing and demonstrating material that teachers could use in their high school classes and presented the profession as more than just debits and credits.
A survey given out at the conference indicated the quality of the program was excellent, and the information given out at the conference will be useful for high school students, teachers and advisers.
The College of Business and the School of Accountancy hosted the conference in the Eccles Conference Center on Sept. 17, 2002.
-lindseyp@cc.usu.edu