BVU Accounting Major Counts Five Internships
Clayton Christian, an accounting major, finishes his internship while counting the days until his senior year begins at BVU. The Beaver pitcher is anxious to make his mark on the diamond and in the business world.
Clayton Christian enjoyed an internship with the Burlington Bees minor league baseball team. He served as a Minnesota Vikings Game Day intern through an annual BVU internship program. Last summer, he completed an accounting internship with a construction company, Todd & Sargent, then followed that with a three-month work experience at KPMG, one of the “big four” in the accounting trade.
This summer, Christian works full-time in the financial service office at Ernst & Young, another of the “big fours.”
If you’re into “accounting” that totals five internships for the BVU senior-to be from Glidden. All those efforts, he says, play a role in his development as a future accountant. He plans on starting his testing toward becoming a Certified Public Accountant in the summer 2020, a month or so following his graduation.
“There are four exams in becoming a CPA,” he says. “I might take the first one this January. I’m told that people study for a month or more for each exam.”
“Being able to learn the ins and outs of business and building relationships through these internships have been very rewarding.”
Clayton Christian
Christian’s time management skills will be put to the test if he opts to test during his senior year. He’ll keep busy, after all, as he assists Beth Blankers, professor of accounting and assistant dean, in teaching the introduction to accounting class. He also spends time as an academic assistant in the Dr. Harold Walter Siebens School of Business for Jennifer Hecht, assistant professor of accounting.
“I’ll do a lot of tutoring in the fall at the Center for Academic Excellence,” says Christian. “I’ll also do anything I can to help our freshmen on the baseball team adjust to life at BVU.”
Yes, Clayton Christian also plays baseball, a member of the pitching staff that helped steer the Beavers to an American Rivers Conference Tournament championship and an NCAA tourney berth in May.
“At one point in April, before the series with Wartburg, I think the team was kind of at a tipping point,” says Christian. “Everyone really pulled together that weekend. We swept the series and won 13 of 14 games and ended up winning the conference tournament.”
Christian logged two innings of scoreless relief for the Beavers in the Wartburg series.The accounting major has already been named a captain for the 2020 baseball season.
“The most important thing I can do for our team is to make myself and the people around me better,” he says. “When you don’t pitch every game, you have time in the dugout to get to know your teammates. I take that opportunity to try to get to know them and to make them better in any way I can.”
Christian, a devotee to yoga, practices the art to increase his flexibility, something he relies on as a sidearm pitcher. He also assists in a campus ministry effort headed by brothers Joe and Lincoln Rock.
Christian, who chose BVU for its business and baseball programs, seeks to one day land a position with one of the “big four” accounting firms. Having experience at two of those companies should help him in his quest.
“I’m doing tax returns for the tax department at ‘EY’ this summer,” he says. “Everything I’m doing is pretty new to me, but it’s exciting, and a great learning experience.”
When he entered BVU as a freshman, Christian says he possessed a basic understanding of business concepts. BVU’s business department has strengthened Christian’s business foundation, which has allowed him to apply classroom concepts to real-world settings. He’s learned more about people through his five work-related experiences, performing a variety of tasks that ranged from selling tickets to a baseball game to filing complicated tax documents for clients.
“Being able to learn the ins and outs of business and building relationships through these internships have been very rewarding,” he says.