College is a time when many students find their career path and narrow down what they’d hope to do after they graduate.
Danielle Farron’s path wasn’t set in when she first got to Plattsburgh State, but once she finally decided what she wanted to pursue, many people agreed that she was a natural for her major.
“I was originally going to come here for nursing because they have a really good program,” Farron said. “In my senior year of high school I changed my mind.”
Farron still wanted to go PSUC because it wasn’t too far from her home in Albany and changed her major to economics.
After her first semester at PSUC Farron changed her major again from economics to accounting. That switch helped Farron discover her passion.
Farron is no stranger to the field of accounting. It runs in the family.
“My mom is an accountant, so I kind of grew up with different accounting backgrounds,” Farron said. “My mom had programs at home for credit card bills and stuff. I would help her with just inputting the numbers into it.”
Farron said she worked with her mom when she was in high school doing little tasks for her and ended up liking it.
“I’m part of the Accounting and Finance Association, which I’ve been apart of since freshman year,” she said. “During the fall semester, we have a trip to Boston and we go network with a bunch of companies and alumni that live in the area. We do the same thing during the spring where to go New York City.”
Farron credited her professors and adviser for helping with the transition of changing majors and appreciated that the faculty as a whole are approachable.
PSUC Accounting Department Chair Mohamed Gaber saw the potential Farron had to succeed in the profession.
“She is a natural born leader with a tremendous time management skills,” Gaber said. “She has done extremely well not just academically but has also done four different internships.”
For one internship, Farron travelled to Ireland for nine weeks of work at a charter accounting firm.
Farron also secured an internship at IBM last spring semester.
“So IBM comes here every semester, and through the Accounting and Finance Departments we hand in our resumes and they pick people who should be interviewed,” Farron said. “They pick usually between one to three people to actually get the internship.”
Farron worked full-time at IBM instead of going to school that spring semester.
“There’s two paths you can take with accounting: public or private. IBM is a private accounting place,” she said. “I gained a lot of experience, and I got to meet a lot of people.”
Farron, who has done five internships during her time at PSUC, speaks to prospective students who are interested in PSUC’s accounting program.
Gaber aks her if she could email these students and tell them about the major.
“I tell her to them about your experiences,” Gaber said.
Accounting professor Edward Lusk said Farron is a student committed to excellence.
In the past, Farron has helped out at a parent’s weekend and was a resprentative for the accounting program.
“When you get someone who is passionate, committed and talented that’s the best case scenario and she has all three,” he said.
Lusk said wherever Farron has worked and interned at she creates her professional image and is able to excecute it.
“People come away and say ““Here’s a young professional that’s going to be a player in the future,”” he said. “And she will be.”
As a result of Farron’s hard work, she was chosen to receive the Ray Thoren Award, which is given to an outstanding junior accounting student.
“She’s always active in class and on top everything,” Gaber said. “She’s very smart, versatile in a lot of things and has good communications skills. She can write her own ticket to success.”
Farron also was chosen to be a World Fuel scholar, which is something relatively new to campus.
“This big company called World Fuel Services sponsors this full-year class,” Farron said. “We are put into groups and they consist of two accounting students and two environmental science students.”
They work together and create a business plan for the company and also see how they can be more environmentally friendly.
Farron said for students it’s all about finding what their passion is and doing the best they can during their four years in college.
“It’s just getting out and finding out what you want to do,” she said. “I feel like a lot of people graduate and still don’t know what they want to do.”
Farron said she believes that getting to his or her’s advisers is just as important.
After IBM, Farron did another internship in Albany at a firm where she audited,. They offered her a job and, she plans on working there after graduation.
Gaber said that all he did was explore the possibilities Farron could have with her degree and she did the rest.
“Just look at what she did during her time here and I think that’ll show people they can excel in their own major as well,” Gaber said.
Email David Luces at fuse@cardinalpointsonline.com
