It’s all adding up for local accounting grad

NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY PHOTO
Maryville native Lindsay Nelson is among the Northwest Missouri State University undergraduates set to receive degrees during today’s commencement ceremonies. An accounting major, Nelson will launch her post-college career as a staff accountant with Dairy Farmers of America, a Kansas City-based agriculture marketing cooperative.

MARYVILLE, Mo. — Lindsay Nelson has known for a long time that she wanted to be an accountant and launch her career in Kansas City.

Now, with the completion of her degree from Northwest Missouri State University, the Maryville native is about to realize those goals.

During today’s commencement ceremonies, Nelson was to receive her undergraduate diploma in accounting, corporate finance, and financial computing. And in a few days, the newly minted Bearcat alumna will begin work as a staff accountant at Dairy Farmers of America, a Kansas City-based agriculture marketing cooperative.

Northwest, Nelson said in a recent interview, provided her with a quality, affordable education in a setting filled with supportive faculty and classmates.

“The faculty, since the classes are so small, they really know who you are, and if you do your work you’ll get recognized for that,” Nelson said. “The students, they’re very friendly so you get to know each other, and especially as you advance through your major you really invest in each other, and you have to help each other. It’s a really big support system.”

Nelson said the decision to attend Northwest was an easy one. Her father, John, who owns Bearcat Lumber, earned his degree at the local campus in 1988.

In addition to carrying on a family tradition, Nelson said she was also attracted to what she saw as a strong accounting program and the opportunity to stay close to home.

“My dad and my mom really pushed education growing up,” she said, “so I value education, and I know it’s becoming more important to gain a higher education. Plus, knowing I wanted to be an accountant, I needed to learn how to do those things and meet the credentials.”

Nelson became interested in accounting as a middle-school student while completing an assignment to write a paper about an occupation with which she wasn’t familiar. As she explored the field, she began to realize it was a profession that offered connections with her personality and talents.

Once in college, she prepared herself for life after graduation through both formal academic study and hand-on activities, such as joining a student auditing team charged with reviewing Northwest Foundation accounts.

“My major gave me a taste of all the different areas within accounting so I could see which areas were my strengths and which areas I was interested in,” Nelson said. “It guided me to which position I wanted, and it offered a lot of ways to diversify myself.”

While at Northwest, Nelson took part in a number of co-curricular activities, including the Accounting Society, Baptist Student Union, and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She also served as a peer advisor and co-founded the Investment Club, which later merged with the Financial Management Club.

Now that her undergraduate career has drawn to a close, Nelson offered the following advice to young people considering Northwest as the next stop on their educational journey.

“Connect with your faculty because they can be a big resource for you,” she said. “I am very much an example of that. Make friends within your major and other majors because you can really learn a lot from each other.”