Today, we speak with Kyle Perez, a freshman accounting major from Robbinsville (Mercer County), NJ, who lives on campus in Holly Pointe Commons. Kyle will share his #PROFspective with us on what it’s like to be a Rowan University student and how he’s getting the most out of his college experience as a Rowan Prof.
Name: Kyle Perez
Major: Accounting
Minors or concentrations: I am planning on declaring a Finance or MIS minor in the near future, Bantivoglio Honors concentration
Year: Freshman
Hometown and County: Robbinsville, NJ (Mercer County)
Resident: Yes, Holly Pointe Commons
Academic clubs: The Accounting Society, Financial Management Association, DECA Member
Athletic clubs: Special Olympics Unified Sports Partner
Social clubs: Colleges Against Cancer Executive Board, SGA Senate Representative, Leadership Rowan Student Leader
Why did you choose your major? I chose accounting as my major because my high school business teacher made the subject fun, engaging, and something more than just crunching numbers. In high school, I was the head of fundraising and a member of the accounting department for Virtual Enterprise International, a student-run business simulation. My experience in Virtual Enterprise gave me a deeper look into the types of jobs people in the accounting field do and taught me applicable business skills that I can use after college.
I’ve realized that this is the right major for me by exposing myself to employers at Rowan’s Accounting and Finance Expo, run through the Office of Career Advancement, where I learned more about what accounting firms specifically do, connected with campus recruiters, and got a sense for the types of firms that I hope to work for in the future.
One reason why you chose Rowan? Rowan was at the bottom of my list of colleges and only one of two I applied to in NJ. I ultimately chose Rowan because, as I visited more, I met more people that I saw as being like-minded to me. I wanted to go to a school where I knew there would be other students as driven and motivated as me to build a strong foundation for a successful career. The honors concentration connected me with these types of students and made Rowan the best choice for me.
My typical day as a Rowan student:
A typical day as a Rowan student is sure to bring about many things. Stress, happiness, and excitement are just a few of the emotions that arise for me day after day as a freshman here at Rowan. I hit the ground running every week with three classes on Mondays, Student Government Senate meetings, and executive board meetings that can go into the late hours of the night for Colleges Against Cancer, a volunteer organization on campus that partners with the American Cancer Society and Relay For Life.
Some time spent in the library doing homework, studying, spending time with friends and my daily workout make for a busy day, and I am always so excited to see my bed at the end of the day.
After the chaos that is Monday, I get a slight break on Tuesdays with only two classes and a lot more free time. Tuesdays and Thursdays are usually my favorite days of the academic week because I really do enjoy my classes. My composition class is taught by a professor who is engaging, entertaining, and just fun to be around. While my microeconomics class is a challenge at times, the material is always interesting and relevant to my field of study.
Generally, my week follows a simple pattern. Mondays and Wednesdays are jam packed with things to do while Tuesdays and Thursdays are less crowded and allow more time for self care, and socializing. My involvement on campus is certainly more than I had planned coming into college.
Every other week I meet with my BLAST group, where my honors groupmates are mentored by two upperclassmen who are also in the honors concentration. Once a week I will meet with my one on one leadership mentor, where we discuss a wide range of topics from leadership strategies to even resume development. We also attend Rowan social events together like soccer games and recent career fairs to help develop our networking skills.
My Fridays are the lightest days of the week, as this is the day where I tend to only have club meetings. I meet with the Accounting Society, where we have different employers and speakers present to us and field our questions about careers in accounting. The DECA club also meets on Fridays, where we are given a real world business issue and have to collaborate with our group mates to come up with the best possible solution and then present our solution to the other members of the club. I also meet with my FLIP group on Fridays which is comprised of other freshmen and transfer student leaders like myself. It can get hard to juggle all these clubs on Fridays but they all work to get my weekend off to a great start!
Saturdays are fairly slow and are spent hanging out with friends and getting a head start on some homework before the excitement and fun that is Sunday. To cap off a busy week for me, Sundays are full of exciting events and various things I enjoy doing. Unified Sports, a club where college partners play soccer and basketball with special olympics athletes, meets every Sunday morning for our games. The environment at Unified is always electric and exciting. Our soccer season just ended so I’m looking forward to the basketball season later on in the year! After Unified I’ll head over the the Rec Center to get my workout in and then grab lunch and relax in my dorm. I close out the week watching some NFL Football in my room while making final preparations for my week ahead!
Story organized and photography by:
Vanessa Vause, junior public relations major and advertising minor
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