Living our Values: Birdies Fore Love

Bailey Kosiek

Bailey Kosiek, RSM’s Birdies Fore Love co-chair, shares her enthusiasm for the firm’s premier charitable giving platform.

Stewardship is a value that RSM has held throughout its 90-plus year history. Through stewardship, we better our firm, develop our people and support our local communities. Each year, RSM partners with the Davis Love Foundation, the host organization of The RSM Classic, a PGA TOUR event, to raise funds for deserving nonprofit organizations focused on enhancing educational outcomes and the quality of life for children and families through our Birdies Fore Love (BFL) program. Over the last eight years, RSM has donated nearly $9 million through BFL to charities where our employees live and work!

In 2017, RSM employees, partners and friends, with a match from the RSM US Foundation, were able to donate more than $2 million, which benefited 68 local charities.

Employee champions in each of our 85 local offices organize the fundraising for Birdies Fore Love. This month marks the kick-off for the 2018 program, and offices across the country are already beginning a variety of entertaining fundraising activities like wiffle ball tournaments, bake sales, chili cook-offs, putt-putt contests, pancake breakfasts, dance-a-thons, pie-in-the-face challenges and dunk tanks!

As the 2018 Birdies Fore Love co-leader, I am deeply proud of the enthusiasm that our offices continue to bring to this campaign each year. It’s humbling to see all of our employees, partners and friends of the firm come together to support something bigger than themselves! I truly believe that the stewardship culture at RSM transcends charitable programs and is woven into the very nature of our client service. Although $2m is a high goal to reach, we have high hopes we will surpass, and no doubt will have a blast in the process!

If you are interested helping us reach our goal by  donating to one of the 64 local charities Birdies Fore Love supports, you can do so by clicking here. 

(L to R) John Davitt (2017 BFL national co-leader), Robin Love, Doug Opheim (RSM US LLP CFO), Davis Love III, Bailey Kosiek (BFL national co-leader), Joe Adams (RSM US LLP CEO).

 Dunk tank fundraiser 

Wiffle ball tournament in Indiana 

RSM Pursue Your Passion: Bringing Water to Honduras

Joy and her dad at the airport before 

departing for their mission trip to Honduras.

RSM’s Joy Herrmann was one of nine employees to win the firm’s Pursue Your Passion program this year. As a result, Joy was awarded nine days of paid time off, along with $10,000 to pursue a personal goal. Read Joy's story:

I’ve had immediate access to clean water my entire life. My grandfather owned a spring water delivery company, and shortly after I was born, my father started his own. My dad always, while actively avoiding praise or recognition, donated water (and more) to friends, family, athletic events, various organizations, and anyone in need, teaching me generosity and humility.

When I received the phone call that I’d been selected as a winner of RSM’s Pursue Your Passion program, I immediately called my dad to let him know we would be going on a mission trip to Honduras to install a well in a community, and to educate the community about hygiene and sustainability. We were both excited and anxious for the trip! My dad isn’t a frequent traveler, and I’d be preparing for the trip during the accounting industry’s busy season.

Upon arriving to Honduras on Saturday, the hospitable Living Water International (Living Water) staff greeted us and introduced us to our teammates for the week – most of whom had been on previous trips with Living Water, including previous trips to Honduras. We quickly realized we were in good hands, and that we’d met people who would become lifelong friends. Our nerves were settled, we were focused on the purpose of our trip, and we knew we would develop memories that we would cherish forever.

Sunday we attended mass in La Ceiba, a community about 60 miles east of where we were staying in Tela. We arrived at The Lighthouse Church, where parishioners welcomed us with open arms. The church is currently fundraising for a generator due to frequent power outages. The power was out when we were there, so the church was extremely hot, but members quickly shared paper for makeshift fans. The local community was very welcoming, and worshipping among them is something I’ll remember forever. After mass, we enjoyed some authentic Honduras cuisine and took a few group photos.

That evening, we met our drill instructors Nugget and Gershom, and our hygiene instructor Deborah. They quickly became friends and, thankfully, interpreters since my Spanish is more than a little rusty. We developed a game plan for the week. The leader of our group was Pastor Billy, a wonderful person who leads a church held in a motorcycle repair shop in Texas. He also runs a recovery house for women. Billy attended the trip with his daughters Aly and Sierra, who grew up going on mission trips. Texans are known for being friendly and approachable, and that held true for Billy and his family.

Monday we headed to Citrinella, a community with a name amusingly closer to Citronella (candles). We split into two groups; my dad was a part of the drill team and I was a part of the hygiene team. The drill team spent the morning setting up the site and drilling; they quickly hit rock at about 30 feet. The hygiene team taught lessons to a school of approximately 150 children, grades pre-K through fourth. One of my favorite lessons included covering our hands with glitter, then shaking the children’s hands. The glitter representing germs which spread very quickly around the classroom. The children’s laughter, smiles, and positive energy spread as quickly as the glitter “germs”. Monday afternoon, the drill team continued to attempt to drill through the rock, and the hygiene lessons continued.

On Tuesday, we again split into groups; my dad and I were then both part of the drill team. We started the day using a larger drill bit but, once again, were unable to drill beyond the rock. We moved the site approximately 12 feet, under the leadership of Spencer and his wife Amanda – additional members of our group. (Back home in Texas, their family owns the motorcycle repair shop where the pastor holds church.) Once we set up the new location and resumed drilling, we quickly hit the same rock at 30 feet. We moved to a third location about 100 yards away and prepared the site for drilling the next day. On this day, there was a local man wearing a shirt that said “small fry,” who talked to all of us all day, even though we understood very little of what he was saying. “Small fry,” without necessarily intending to, started a team effort of volunteers in the local community. When we moved locations for the third time, he was the first person to help with the digging. Shortly after that, other community members helped prepare the new site for drilling the next day.

Wednesday, we drilled at the new location and again quickly hit the same rock at 30 feet. The last day at Citrinella we taught more lessons to the children, and played with them during recess. They were very excited by the small toys we brought (jump ropes, Frisbees, balloons, and soccer balls). This was one of my favorite parts of the trips; the kids were full of energy and such a joy to be around. Throughout the time in this community, the children often offered us gifts and shared their snacks; we thought this was so sweet since these children have so little. I wished I’d remembered more Spanish so I had been able to communicate with them more easily. The younger kids, in particular, were very kind and would tell us things slowly in hopes we would understand. There was a pre-K boy, Mario, who asked for a red crayon in Spanish. He was so excited I understood him that he then quizzed me on the colors; he’d have me repeat the colors back to him if I wasn’t saying it correctly. He patiently had me repeat back yellow (“amarillo”) about fifteen times. I see Mario as a future educator!

After our final attempt at drilling in Citrinella, we moved to a new community about an hour-and-a-half away, Villa Franka. (The Living Water staff will return to Citrinella later to find a new location for drilling, and I’m hopeful they’ll have fresh water soon!) Upon arriving in the new community, the locals welcomed us and helped prepare the site for drilling the next day. We were feeling a little disappointed that we’d be unable to provide the Citrinella community with fresh water, but upon further reflection, realized that we provided something else: As we were drilling Tuesday, one of the local men commented that the females in our group “worked hard for women”. (Some people in Honduras aren’t used to seeing women perform physical labor, especially alongside men.) We hope that our hard work in addition to the respect shown to our women by the men in our group will encourage men and women in Honduras to work together.

Thursday was a day of physical labor and drilling; we all wanted to help as much as possible but we also realized we needed to take turns and work together to complete the installation of this well in fewer than 48 hours. As our team continued to drill on Thursday, more members of the community joined us to help. One of the locals helping mix cement was working in boots with a large hole. Without hesitation, Sierra took off her rubber boots and gifted them to this young man. The smile on his face when he came out with the new boots on is something I will remember forever, and it reminds me not to take anything for granted. Most of the group donated their rubber work boots to the community following in Sierra’s footsteps – or bootsteps?! By the end of the day Thursday, we successfully hit water at about 95 feet!

Friday was originally supposed to be a free day, but we ended up completing the well in Villa Franka, and having a dedication ceremony. The well we installed had approximately 80 feet of water and will last generations. It’s hard to determine which lives changed more – those there to serve or those being served. The Living Water staff heard that my dad would be celebrating his 65th birthday that Sunday. Without our knowing, they made a special trip into the city to pick up a cake. I was so excited that Living Water “gave to the giver” and “surprised the surpriser”! I’d brought a 6 and 5 candle from home in hopes I could put them in a candy bar (or even a piece of chicken) and sing “Happy Birthday” to my dad. With the help of the staff, our group was able to celebrate my dad around a large, delicious sheet cake with “Feliz Cumpleaños, Frank” written on top

This was an opportunity of a lifetime, and I am so grateful that I was able to experience this with my dad. We will cherish the memories and the people we met forever. Thank you to RSM for the generosity and support. I am proud to be part of an organization that supports their employees and helps them fulfill their passions/dreams.

Gracias RSM!

A growing start-up inside RSM

Meet Tom Dimino, a founding partner of RSM’s technical accounting consulting (TAC) practice, and learn more about our growing TAC practice. 

What does the TAC practice do?
Our technical accounting consulting (TAC) practice specializes in guiding our clients through complex accounting and financial reporting matters. It’s a blend of audit and consulting expertise, with many diverse areas of focus. We act as client advocates by creating solutions for their problems, all of which require very unique technical knowledge and consulting expertise. See all our TAC services here.

Depending on the size and scope of a project, our engagements can be anywhere from 2-3 months or up to 12-16 months. Many of our engagements involve collaboration across other practice areas at RSM, including audit, tax, transaction advisory services, valuation and management consulting.

What types of clients do you work with?

Our clients are typically middle to upper-middle market. Since all industries are affected by the new revenue standards, our clients range across technology, business services, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, consumer products and more industries.

Geography-wise, we are a national practice with clients all over the U.S., in addition to our growing international presence. While our team is national, our major TAC hubs include Boston, New York City, Chicago, Houston, Detroit and offices in Northern and Southern California.

What makes the TAC practice unique?

Conceptually, the TAC practice is similar to a start-up. We offer the unique opportunity of an entrepreneurial environment under the umbrella of a multi-billion dollar company. We formalized the practice in January 2017 and, moving forward, we are poised for incredibly exciting growth to come. We are projecting to double in size for each of our fiscal year ends in April 2019 and 2020.

Because we’re a growing, agile team, each member of our TAC practice has the ability to carve out a niche where they can apply their expertise in an area they love and where they excel. Moreover, we will help them carve out that niche to ensure that they are put to their best and highest use.

What do you look for in potential talent for the TAC practice?

Technically speaking, we target professionals with diverse knowledge in complex accounting matters with a focus on the new standard implementations. But since these standards are still new, very few professionals have direct experience. And, implementing these standards is very different than auditing them. For that reason, business skills and overall culture fit are even more important. We target professionals who have the ability to act as consultants – individuals who are agile and have the confidence to articulate a solution to a client or work with their team to find/create one.

At our core, the TAC team is one of collaboration and one of support for people who you are working with and for. So when someone joins us, we give them fantastic formal training to learn our methodologies and expertise around these new standard implementations. But in order to truly fit, we look for people who are willing to work on a team and support each other through mentorship and training given our commitment to our talent experience.

When you think about the future of the TAC practice, what are you the most excited for?

Without question, I can’t wait to see the successes to come for this hard-working group. With our growth trajectory, we will have the ability to see each and every one progress and move into leadership roles. We are already seeing our talent progress and take advantage of our accelerated leadership opportunities, and this is only the beginning.

Interested in career opportunities within RSM’s TAC practice? View our current openings here on RSM’s careers page!

RSM Pursue Your Passion: Ringing in good times across the country

RSM’s Megan Reishus was one of nine employees to win the firm’s Pursue Your Passion program this year. As a result, Megan was awarded nine days of paid time off, along with $10,000 to pursue a personal goal. Megan’s goal? Continue to pursue her passion for playing handbells by purchasing equipment for her ensemble and going on a cross-country musical performance tour. Read Megan’s story:

Megan with the rest of the quartet about to leave Colorado
 Springs for their most extensive tour to date! 

What exactly goes into a cross-country musical performance tour? Planning, certainly, and no shortage of hard work. Willing hosts and eager audiences. Practice. Instruments, time... and passion. Passion for the music and the goal of sharing it with as many people as possible. And then once we’re on the road, what does a tour really entail? Set the stage, play a concert, meet audiences, pack everything back up, eat, sleep, wake up and drive to the next location, do it all again. Love every minute of it.

I play handbells. Like you might see playing during the offering at your church… except that the only similarity is probably the instrument itself. Handbells are traditionally a “church instrument,” but the quartet that I’m part of, Forté, is an elite ensemble with a national following and a reputation for excellence, intensity and innovation. Our motto and constant challenge to ourselves and our audiences is to “Rethink Possible,” in terms of the instrument’s potential. We play all genres of music, with concerts featuring techno, Celtic, pop, country, new age, original, classical, classic rock, Christmas, and Christian music – just to name just some of our selections’ genres. We are a Christian group, with our primary goal being to glorify God through the gifts and talents He’s given us, and we believe we can do that with any type of music when it’s presented well. So that’s what we strive to do.

It’s likely (but not actually verified with real data) that we hold the record for using the largest amount of equipment per ringer of any handbell ensemble. Our primary set is five octaves (61 bells) and we use three to four additional three-octave (37 bell) sets for each concert, for when we need duplicate bells of the same pitch for staging purposes. Each of these three-octave sets costs $10,600 (one of these sets was what my Pursue Your Passion prize funded), while the five-octave set costs $24,350. Beyond that, we use three sets of hand chimes (one five-octave set and two three-octave sets), mallets, percussion, and various racks and stands for our equipment. For four performers, that’s quite a lot. Now imagine packing the trailer every night after a concert!

The quartet taking a quick break at the gas station
before driving to their next stop on tour. 

This March, we presented our most extensive tour to date. We had a local “send-off” concert in Colorado Springs before heading east. We shared music with audiences in Manhattan, KS; St. Louis, MO; Lakeside Park, KY (right across the Ohio River from Cincinnati OH); Beckley, WV; Williamsburg, VA; Raleigh, NC; Lilburn (Atlanta), GA; Macon, GA; Nashville TN; Conway, AR; Norman, OK; and Dodge City, KS, before returning home to Colorado. We drove 4,000+ miles and performed 13 concerts in 14 days, it was exhausting – and it was wonderful. We can’t wait to do it again! Until we can, we continue to perform locally, including the “welcome home” portion of our tour that we put on in April.

The thing about this passion and the pursuit thereof is that it’s never “complete.” The nine PTO days RSM generously provided me through the firm’s Pursue Your Passion program covered most of my cross-country journey, but that only makes up a chapter of our collective story. The impact that the Pursue Your Passion contest has had and will continue to have on me and my group is profound – the bells that I was able to purchase will come with us as we continue to travel across the country and perform for new audiences. It means that when we’re coordinating the equipment needed for our next tour, we don’t need to borrow as many bells from local churches. The fact that I work for a firm that supports its employees’ passions in such a huge and tangible way is incredible. I want to sincerely thank the Pursue Your Passion selection committee for choosing me as a recipient this year.

If you’re interested in more information and/or want to follow Forté as we continue our pursuit of this shared passion – and maybe even catch a concert if/when we’re in your area – please check out our website. Our upcoming projects have us heading to Albuquerque, NM (June 2018); Lincoln, NE and Northfield, MN (March 2019); and many stops along the way from Colorado to Connecticut and back (June/July 2019). We hope you’ll join us!

RSM Pursue Your Passion: Have a Seat!

RSM’s Matt Dollard was one of nine employees to win the firm’s Pursue Your Passion program this year. As a result, Matt was awarded nine days of paid time off, along with $10,000 to pursue a personal goal. Matt’s dream? Work under the direction of a master craftsman to create a one-of-a-kind piece of furniture by hand. Read Matt’s story: 

Matt Dollard

I feel fortunate to work at a place with a program that encourages employees to pursue their passions outside of their everyday careers. My passion (or “healthy obsession”) is building hand-crafted furniture. The majority of my work to date could be considered cabinet-making – mainly a lot of right angles, which is relatively “easy” once you practice at it. I was ready to take on a new challenge and, with the support of RSM, decided to learn chair-building. Specifically, I wanted to construct a chair that had no right angles, with lines skewing and curving all over the place. With this challenge in mind and the firm’s support, I chose to take woodworking classes from one of the best chair makers in the country.

My near complete Continuous Arm Windsor

In March, I spent one week in North Carolina studying with Elia Bizzarri. I encourage you to look at Elia’s work; it’s of the highest quality and done by hand. There were three other students studying with me - all of them retired. Being the youngest participant and far from retirement, I felt lucky to be there. Were it not for RSM’s Pursue your Passion program, I too would have waited until I retired!

Elia Bizzarri demonstrating how to split
logs with steel wedges and a sledge
hammer to harvestchair spindles. 

The project was to construct a continuous arm Windsor chair. This chair design is several hundred years old and very much in use today, however, its contemporary examples are mass produced in different forms. There is a growing revival of hand tool craftsmen who have begun writing about and documenting their methods and taking on students. I’ve been inspired by these craftsmen and have coveted what they do.

We began with a red oak log, and a wide plank of pine for the seat, and transformed them into a finished chair.

Elia demonstrating how to use a
shaving horse and a draw knife
to rough out the chair spindles

We split the logs with steel wedges and sledge hammers into rough sections for chair spindles. We shaped them with hand tools on a shaving horse, basically a foot-operated vise that holds the work while you sit in it.

We then made the chair back by splitting it from a white oak log, as white oak bends nicely and is perfect for the chair back. We shaped it with similar methods as the spindles. Then we put the chair back in a steam box for over an hour at 220 degrees, bent it over a form, clamped it down, and placed it in a kiln to dry for a few days. 

The chair seat is made from Northern White Pine, a softer wood good for carving and shaping by hand. If you look, most wood chair seats you find today are a series of wood pieces laminated (glued) together. Original American Windsor chairs more often used a single section of pine for the seat. This requires a wide section of knot-free pine, which isn’t easy to find. Lucky for us, Elia has a connection that supplies him.

Bending a steamed chair bow (or
back) over a form to make the
distinctive continuous arm
chair back

The seat took several days and multiple steps to complete. After cutting the basic profile, we determined the leg and arm stump angles then bored holes by hand.  We then temporarily inserted the legs and used their resulting angles as a guide to take measurements to drill holes for the cross stretchers for the undercarriage. With that complete, we carved both the top, parts of the bottom and the sides of the seat to give it a curvy shape.  

We then began gluing and hammering wedges into the tops of the legs to firmly set the leg joints into the seat.

The next step was to drill holes in the seat deck for the spindles and begin orienting them in the chair by eye.  The spindles by nature weren’t totally straight. We followed the wood fibers, which makes the spindles strong but leads to some natural variability. The trick is to align them by turning them so they appear as straight as possible. This works surprisingly well. The eye naturally seeks symmetry and finds it even if the spindles are a little less than perfectly straight. The final steps involved sighting the angles, then drilling holes in the chair back, then inserting the spindles and arm stumps for a dry test fit. We aligned them, then gently tapped the chair back over the spindles, drove wedges into the tops and sawed them off.   

Carving the seat with an in shave

My completed chair, after shipping it home and spending about eight hours applying 8-9 coats of various finishes is pictured here.

I could not have taken a week off of work to study with a master chair builder and complete a project like this without the support of RSM. Getting time away and funding would have been a challenge with all the priorities in my life. I’m grateful for the opportunity and the time and resources that were provided to me by RSM’s Pursue your Passion program. I learned so much. Elia is a brilliant and humble instructor, and an entertaining storyteller while he teaches. 

Organizing the spindles in the most aesthetically pleasing way -
each spindle has natural variations due to following
the direction of wood fibers

Overall, the experience exceeded my expectations. I feel confident that I could adequately tackle this project on my own now. In fact, I enjoyed the project so much, and the firm has provided me with enough funding and time to circle back and take a second course where I’ll be constructing a comb-back Windsor rocking chair pictured here. Wish me luck!

Test fitting the bow on the spindles

To finish the chair I applied 4 coats of barn
red milk paint, two coats of black "wash coat,"
four coats of Tung oil and one coat of wax. The
next project I will tackle under Elia's
instruction in May 2018 - a back comb windsor
rocking chair.

Hand drilling the holes in the seat deck
to insert the spindles - using the bow
 as a reference point to determine
the proper angles

Beto’s passion: Helping nonprofits achieve their mission

Beto Arellano | Senior Audit Associate | San Francisco

We recently sat down with Beto Arellano, a Senior Associate in our San Francisco office, to talk about one of his favorite type of clients – nonprofit organizations.

Beto, a CPA and University of California, Davis grad with a master’s in accounting, primarily works with clients in financial services, with emphasis on private equity funds, venture capital funds and small business investment companies. However, Beto’s passion to help the community has also translated into a passion for helping nonprofit clients.

He said working with nonprofit clients has been quite rewarding and can be some of his most interesting work, such as when he did an audit for an interactive science museum. “Breaks consisted of playing pinball, walking through a fog bridge or playing snake with other museum goers. Not much can beat that in the audit world! It a very unique experience as not only do we get to interact with fun exhibits, but we get to work closely with management and understand how a museum operates. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that makes this such a special place for visitors and we got a front row seat on the whole production!”

It’s not just the unique and different clients Beto enjoys, but also seeing how his work helps the organization make a positive impact. “Another client I have the opportunity to work with has a mission to support conservation issues, education and community foundations. As part of our audit procedures, we examine grants and get to see firsthand how these funds are being used to help with all sorts of social issues, from water conservation to providing medical assistance. It has been quite intriguing to learn how they have grown over the years and see how they continue to raise funds in order to continue making a global impact. Due to our relationship with these clients, working on nonprofits has been quite rewarding. We see how our work is supporting their mission and vision.”

Trevor Wong reaches new heights with Ascend

Here at RSM, we place a heavy emphasis on year-round development to help our people build their skills and grow their careers. One way our people receive training is through our 11 employee network groups, part of our Culture, Diversity, and Inclusion program. Trevor Wong, an audit and transaction advisory services associate from our San Francisco office, recently had the opportunity to attend the Ascend conference in Houston, Texas, along with 50 other RSM colleagues and fellow InspirAsian employee network group members. Ascend is a non-profit organization that cultivates and trains Pan-Asian members and supporters as they navigate through related accounting and business fields.
We sat down with Trevor for a brief chat to discuss his experience at the conference and how it has helped him beyond his time there.

RSM: Prior to the conference, what were some of your expectations?

Trevor: I figured I would meet students and other professionals, and get to know what Ascend was truly about as my alma mater did not have a local chapter.

What sessions did you think were the most informative?

One of the sessions I found most empowering was a session hosted by Alfred Ko, an RSM risk advisory services director. It delved into how to ask for recognition and credit, which was a good way of understanding how one could approach that sensitive issue. Another was hosted by guest speakers Christine Ha and So-yeon Yi, and I got an understanding of what tribulations they went through in their careers, and how they used their experience to their benefit and always believed themselves. That was something as an Asian-American, I found to be helpful and informative.

Is there anything you learned or experienced at the conference that you have now incorporated into your everyday work life?

Networking for sure. Now I can talk to students and professionals, which translates into talking to your client professionally and being more outgoing. Now, I reach out to people in other lines of business in New York, Irvine, Los Angeles, Houston, etc. I’ve broken barriers and spoken with other people outside my group. I’m also now more adept at asking for feedback, to reach out and be proactive, and be more accepting of self-recognition.

What kind of fun things did you do at Ascend?

One night, we broke up into three groups and went to Indian, Korean BBQ, and Hot Pot for dinner, then met up for Karaoke after. We had a lot of fun!

Meet Jenna Wiessner: Two-time RSM Intern

Jenna Wiessner | Future Tax Associate | Baltimore

We sat down with Jenna Wiessner, a two-time intern in our Baltimore office, to learn more about her, including her experience at RSM and what makes her unique.

Tell us about yourself!

• Hometown: Fallston, Maryland
• College: Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland
• Graduation: December 2017 
• RSM Office: Baltimore
• Favorite place in the world: the beach 

What are three things that no one at RSM knows about you?

• I am a HUGE Dave Matthews Band fan. I have seen them in concert 10 times and have even traveled the world to see them perform!
• I played rugby for Salisbury University for two years, and after too many concussions, I decided to enter into early retirement from my rugby career.
• I was initially a finance major, and one of my accounting professors spent an entire year trying to persuade me to switch my major to accounting. I ultimately caved, which was the best decision that I ever made, but I have maintained a double major in both accounting and finance. 

You initially were an audit intern in the summer of 2016, and you then returned as a tax intern this past summer. How did you go about making that change and why?

Making the change was incredibly easy. After completing my audit internship in 2016, RSM gave me an offer to return for a second internship in audit in 2017. That said, when I later realized that I wanted to shift from audit to tax, I simply spoke with my campus recruiter to see if it was even a possibility. Within a week, I was re-extended an offer as a tax intern!

Deciding to make the change from audit to tax was a natural decision. After wrapping up my audit internship at RSM, I went back to Salisbury and took my first tax class. That same semester, I also completed an elective tax internship through Salisbury University. Through both my first tax class and the elective tax internship, I came to the realization that tax was a natural fit for me. My experience this past summer as a tax intern definitely reaffirmed my decision.

What did you enjoy the most about your audit internship? What did you enjoy the most about your tax internship?

My favorite aspect of my audit internship was the valuable experience that I gained while on site at the client and having direct interaction with the client. I had the opportunity to tour some really cool clients with state-of-the-art facilities and sit in on some interesting meetings.

My favorite aspect of my tax internship was the natural challenge I faced on a day-to-day basis. The tax work really required me to problem solve and be creative by leveraging a variety of resources, which I so enjoyed. Even a tax senior associate on my team was pleasantly surprised when she saw how quickly I was able to grasp some challenging concepts!

Although both internships were quite different, they each gave me really unique experiences, which helped to better understand what path I wanted to take following graduation.

What drew you back to RSM for a second internship?

At the end of last summer, I really felt that RSM was a good fit for me. Everyone in the office truly embraces the culture and the firm’s brand promise “The Power of Being Understood,” and that really resonated with me. On top of that, I felt that RSM would be a great long-term fit given the size of the firm, the middle market focus, and the long-term opportunities that I would be provided when starting full-time.

Tell us your favorite memory from the last two summers. What stands out in your mind?

I can’t exactly pick one specific memory, but in general, the people definitely standout. Last summer, I had the opportunity to meet so many great people all in different positions and lines of business. Returning this past summer, it was amazing to see so many familiar faces, while continuing to forge new relationships. It really is who you work with that matters the most.

What advice would you give to future RSM interns?

Have fun! To be the best version of yourself, you must be confident AND have fun. The whole point of an internship with RSM is to see if you are a good fit for RSM, and if RSM is a good fit for you, and the best way to do that is to be yourself, work hard, and enjoy yourself all at the same time.

Consumer Products: Audits for everyday items

Alison Cannon | Assurance Manager | Baltimore

We caught up with Alison Cannon audit manager in the Baltimore office, to learn more about what it’s like to work in RSM’s consumer products practice. Consumer products, including food and beverage, restaurants, retail, and fashion and home furnishings, is one of many industries in which RSM focuses.

RSM: What types of companies are considered consumer products clients?

Alison: Consumer products encompasses anything the end-user consumes. Think about things you buy everyday—food in grocery stores, clothes online, furniture in a store. All of the companies that sell those products to you are considered consumer products.

What challenges do you face working in the consumer products space?
The products consumers want and how they want to get those products is always changing. Think about how you shop today versus how we shopped 10 years ago. We want companies to be “omnichannel”—meaning we want different ways to buy things—online, in the store, on an app, etc. Companies really have to innovate to be able to keep up with today’s consumer. As auditors, we have to keep up with how companies are changing their business and making sure we know how to audit and account for any changes.

What’s the make-up of a typical client team?

This all depends on the size of the client. Our small to mid-sized companies will typically have 4-5 core team members consisting of 1-2 associates, 1 senior associate (the “in-charge”), 1 manager, and 1 partner. This team is usually on site for about 2-3 weeks. Larger clients could have more team members and will be on site for a longer period of time. Depending on the client, there could also be a RSM tax team or IT team that helps that audit team.

Can you describe a typical consumer product client engagement?

Typically the team will go to a client a few months before the client’s year-end. During this time, the team is focused on planning the audit. They will calculate materiality, determine what accounts need to be tested, identify any risks (including fraud risks) at the client, and may even start some testing. They will also obtain an understanding of all of the key processes at the business. For consumer products, this usually consists of cash, accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory, fixed assets, sales, and payroll. After an understanding has been obtained from those in the accounting department, the associate or senior associate will sit down with all of the process owners (accounts payable clerk, assistant controller, controller, CFO, etc.) and will perform a “walkthrough” of the process. This is where we pick an example and have the client show us exactly how the transaction works from beginning to end. This is a great way for us to interact with the client and to make sure we really understand the business. It can also help us identify any other risks that may exist in the business, especially around internal controls.

Right around year-end the team usually performs inventory observations. Most consumer products clients have inventory on their balance sheet since this is what they sell to the end user. To make sure that inventory exists as stated, we will go out and count a sample of the inventory. Sometimes this is the most interesting part of the audit—imagine going to count clothes at your favorite clothing store, or counting frozen food in a huge freezer!

After year-end, the team will go back out to the client to begin testing. During this time we get schedules from the client, select samples, and have the client pull information for us. We spend a lot of time testing the samples, performing analytics, talking to the client, and obtaining additional documents to support what the client is saying.

What experience do you need to work on consumer product engagements?

Ensuring the team has experience in the consumer products industry is very important. Normally, that industry expertise come from the manager and partner on the client team. But new associates can jump right in to this type of audit with appropriate guidance from the manager and partner and begin to develop their own industry knowledge All of our employees, including new associates, take continuing professional education classes throughout the year, including industry-specific courses, so everyone gets the training they need to work on these audits.

Meet RSM Pursue Your Passion Winner: Andrew Leonard

Andrew Leonard | Senior Director | Great Lakes Region

Janjira Prompinit. Hellen Aromo Omuka. Veerada Sarapat. Yanam Saewue. Purity Salama Julius. These are the names of the underprivileged girls I have supported or am currently supporting in developing countries. Children across many portions of the globe do not have access to everyday necessities that we take for granted such as schooling, medical care, nourishing food, clean water and a safe environment. The international statistics on poverty and child abuse are staggering. Young girls are particularly vulnerable which is why over the last 20 years I have chosen to sponsor and support females throughout a majority of their childhood and teen years.

A peer-reviewed study of the organization through which I provide my support, Compassion International, appeared in the April 2013 issue of the Journal of Political Economy and the results indicated that those children like mine who are sponsored through the program are 14 to 18 percent more likely to have salaried employment and 35 percent more likely to secure white-collar employment as adults. As a proud employee of the RSM organization my dream is that the children I support can also obtain meaningful employment that provides the same values and opportunity for advancement through the workforce.

This study also concluded that those children sponsored are 30 to 75 percent more likely to be leaders in their communities and 40 to 70 percent more likely to act as leaders in their church upon reaching adulthood. The core value of stewardship and development is further evidenced by the study’s findings that sponsorship increases the likelihood of a child becoming a teacher by 63 percent.

Lasty, in regards to education the study has found that the program extends the average length of time that a child will stay in school and increases the likelihood that they will complete a secondary education program by 27 to 40 percent and the completion of a university education by 50 to 80 percent. In fact, two of my own sponsored children have completed their high school equivalency education within their home countries. The ability to impact a child’s life by not only assisting in their physical well-being but also by advancing their education and employment opportunities is well aligned with the RSM core calues of respect, integrity, teamwork, excellence and stewardship.

Although my sponsorship over the past 20 years has resulted in the exchange of what likely amounts to hundreds of letters, pictures, artwork and other correspondence I have never been blessed with the opportunity to speak to any of my sponsored children, let alone meet them face to face. My Pursue Your Passion dream is for myself and my significant other to get the chance to visit one of my girls and interact with them on a personal basis.

I cannot express in words what I envision it would feel like to meet one of my sponsored girls with a visit also allowing me to experience the culture as well as the challenges that they face. It would be gratifying to also observe the child development center and see the organization in action as it improves the lives of these children. Additionally, my goal would be to utilize the trip to not only meet my child but to also provide additional support to the underprivileged in the area.

Depending upon the logistics of a pre-organized trip planned by the organization, I hope to participate in a “CauseTrek” which adds an additional aspect to the trip. In addition to the normal visit, these trips also incorporate a further fundraising component, requiring each traveler to committing to raising funds for a specific charitable purpose. Ideally, there is a trip to Tanzania which can be customized such that I can meet my child from Kenya as well as participate in the CauseTrek for this trip, which entails raising funds to implement water wells, rainwater-harvesting systems, the building of new latrines and in-home water filters benefiting children in Tanzania.

Although pre-planned trips are offered on specific dates and have a limited number of travelers allowed, Compassion International also assists in personalized trips which can be customized if a planned trip is unavailable. My plan is to work with the organization to raise funds for my local visit, even if a CauseTrek is unavailable.

RSM takes pride in focusing on communities and operating in a socially responsible manner. I cannot think of a more socially responsible action than supporting those in the greatest need in our world and often literally clutching them from the grasps of poverty and providing them with a safer and healthier life and greatly increasing the likelihood of an education and gainful employment. It will be a dream come true for me to see my sponsorship in action with my own eyes and hopefully provide not only one of my sponsored children but their entire family and others in their community with some love and inspiration as we meet in person.

Meet RSM Pursue Your Passion Winner: Megan Reishus

Megan Reishus | Associate | Central Region

I’ve been playing handbells for 21 years, over two thirds of my life. It’s my passion and it’s what I spend basically all of my free time doing. I love the music, the people and perhaps most of all the teamwork that is fundamental to success in the handbell world. I’ve often heard handbell ensemble ringing called “the ultimate team sport” because the music is written like a piano score but is played by multiple people. Each person has their own notes for which they’re responsible, and each note has to be played consistently – both visually and aurally – with the other ringers’ notes to create a smooth musical line and visually pleasing performance. This type of music truly encompasses many of RSM’s core values – particularly teamwork as mentioned above, excellence considering the level at which we strive to perform and stewardship considering that we also teach other musicians.

When I was a student at St. Olaf college, I joined a handbell ensemble that changed my perception of this instrument from a hobby that I enjoyed but to which I didn’t dedicate much effort, to a true passion into which I’ve poured myself completely ever since, striving for excellence in my own personal skills as well as working tirelessly to be a strong member of consistently excellent performing ensembles. In 2011, I moved cross-country and joined two world-class handbell groups right away – a 15-member advanced community handbell ensemble called the Pikes Peak Ringers and the elite Forté Handbell Quartet. This latter group gets to the root of my passion for the instrument. The four of us are great friends and we push each other to new heights every single week. We strive for excellence and never settle for less than our best, and we keep raising that bar when we succeed at short-term goals. In 2016 we were featured performers at the national seminar for the Handbell Musicians of America, our national organization, and the experience of touring across the country and then back home (and playing for that signature event in the middle) was something I’ll never forget.

Because we’re passionate for always getting better and dreaming bigger, we have goals and hopes for continuing to build our skills and share the music of this wonderful instrument that we love with the world. We want to continue to tour to different locations in the U.S. and maybe even internationally, eventually. We also take great pride in our first CD that we produced in 2016, as well as our DVD of music videos produced in the same timeframe, and hope to release more discs in the coming years. Our goal in producing videos of our music was to break away from the standard (for handbells) static camera recording of a concert venue and do something different, so we’ve been working with videographers and creating music videos, recording in locations varying from the top of a mountain to a snowy castle, from train tracks to open fields. We have all sorts of ideas to grow and bring our instrument to the world and challenge (and ultimately overturn) the stereotype of handbells as a novelty instrument only used at Christmas.

However, we have one main obstacle holding us back from the freedom to pursue these ideas without constraint: we don’t own all of the equipment that we use. We borrow a significant portion of our instruments from local churches and community ensembles, and our ability to use them depends on the schedules of the actual owners of the instruments. The equipment that we would need to purchase in order to gain our independence and flexibility, however, is fairly expensive. Even with each of us giving our time, energy and often monetary investment to the group, we know that we will need additional financial support to be able to be free to pursue our shared passion in the near future without limitations. This contest will have such a lasting impact on me and my quartet, since once we purchase the remaining equipment that we don't yet own, we gain the independence to freely pursue this passion for years to come, and the funds from this contest would go a long way toward getting us there.

I think this Pursue Your Passion contest is so incredible. Reading the winning entries from the past two years was so enjoyable and inspiring, and I just hope my passion and proposal for how this contest could help me pursue it will stack up with current year submissions. I also think it would be really rewarding, if I am blessed enough to be selected, for my group to be able to come perform at one of the large RSM conferences held throughout the year, and show off our shiny new instruments in a “thank you” performance. Short of that, it would be my honor to share videos and blog entries of our spring tour from Colorado to Georgia and back – for which the nine additional days off to pursue this passion would be so helpful – as part of the contest follow-up.

In terms of the budget, my immediate goal is to purchase a three octave set of bronze handbells and their protective cases. This would leave my group able to focus our future cash flow toward CD/DVD/music video production and the final octave of bells to complete our primary set.

Meet Pursue Your Passion Winner: Bryan O'Neal

Bryan O'Neal | Supervisor | Great Lakes Region

I adopted my son when he was 5 years old, knowing that he had a complicated medical history. He weighed 1 pound 7 ounces when he was born at 27 weeks, and shortly after birth he developed a virus that damaged most of his intestines. Because of this he has had countless surgeries to repair his intestines, and is 100 percent dependent on Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) for all of his nutritional needs.

Within four months of the adoption my son had to undergo a procedure to reposition his central line at a St. Louis hospital 2.5 hours away from our home. After the procedure the doctor came in and told us that the central line was working again, but during the procedure he had aspirated his stomach contents into his lungs. I’m not a doctor, but I knew that this couldn’t be good. Still, in the back of my mind I remember thinking, “Okay, Doc, you go get him fixed up, draw up the paperwork, and discharge him so that we can be home in time for dinner.” It obviously wasn’t that easy, and pretty soon I understood the severity of the situation, and that my son was fighting for his life. After a week in the hospital, including four days in the ICU, he finally recovered and we were able to go home.

This was an incredibly stressful and challenging time for our family. Thankfully we had the support of our family and friends to help us through. We also had the full support of RSM, who allowed me to take time off and work remotely, even though we were in the middle of busy season and I had only been on the job for a little more than a year. We were also fortunate to have a place to stay at the Ronald McDonald House. My wife and I were able to take turns spending time away from the ICU in order to rest and recharge. We will never forget the kindness and generosity of the staff and volunteers; complete strangers who got to know us and showed incredible care and concern for us.

Since this incident in 2015 we have had to take our son for specialized medical care in St. Louis, Indianapolis and Omaha. In each of those places we have found the same care and compassion from everyone at the Ronald McDonald Houses.

Within a few months of returning home I became involved with Family House, a local not-for-profit in my hometown that provides affordable home-like accommodations for families of patients receiving medical care in the Peoria, Illinois area. I became a board member in 2015, and became president of the board in 2017.

In addition to my service on the board, my family and I regularly provide and prepare meals for the guests at Family House. We were always extremely appreciative when groups provided meals during our out-of-town hospital visits, so we want to do the same thing for Family House. Doing this is a great benefit to the families there, because it helps to relieve a little bit of the burden of being away from home, and it also allows for a time to interact with the staff, volunteers and other families staying at the house. This time of interaction is beneficial in helping people support each other during difficult times and celebrate medical victories and recoveries with one another. When we serve a meal at Family House we always take our son with us. He always looks forward to it, because there are usually some kids staying at the house that he can play with.

The current playroom at Family House has some toys and activities for children, but this is one area that could be improved. I will use my Pursue Your Passion funds to outfit the playroom with all new furniture, toys, games, a TV and video games. This would be a worthwhile investment because it would encourage interaction among the children and parents who stay at the house. In our personal experience, whenever our son has stayed with us at Ronald McDonald Houses he always looks forward to the playrooms. This is an important part of the house because kids staying there are away from their home and friends and family, and playing provides a needed distraction from whatever medical situation they are going through. This is true whether the child is there for their own medical care or because a loved one is receiving medical care.

Additionally, I will use some of the funds to install an outdoor covered grilling station with a new grill. When the weather is nice there are many guests and volunteer groups who grill out, which is another way to make Family House feel like home.

Family House, like all of the healthcare hospitality houses I have stayed at, provides a calm, comfortable, quiet and safe environment to help people through difficult times. I’m honored to be a part of this wonderful organization. I truly consider serving at Family House to be my passion. I wish that no family ever had to experience a medical crisis away from home, but since there will always be those cases I’m glad I can do my small part to make those families as comfortable as possible.

Meet RSM Pursue Your Passion Winner: Chris Guido

Chris Guido | Client Account Manager | Northeast Region

First and foremost, thank you for taking the time to read my submission. When I first read about the Pursue Your Passion opportunity there was not a moment’s hesitation for what I would want to pursue, helping my local elementary school, Horatio B. Hackett Elementary school in Philadelphia.

A little background about myself. I was born and raised in Philadelphia, the son of a Philadelphia firefighter and a Red Cross nurse. I am a product of the Philadelphia Public school system. My parents both instilled in me a strong sense of civic responsibility and giving back whenever one has the ability to do so. Your community has as much an impact on the person you become as you can have an impact on your community and those around you. Along with an altruistic nature as being so critical in life was also the importance of education that they emphasized.

A proper education can systemically assist in the resolution of so many challenges every person encounters, whether it be socio-economic, racial, physical or mental disabilities or any other number of challenges children and individuals face throughout their life. Many of my peers and longtime friends are teachers and I truly admire their dedication to both of these traits, giving back and educating our youth.

As I started to think about my own education and what opportunities allowed me to move forward in life I think about how both my family and my educators allowed me to experiment, innovate and problem solve for a variety of situations throughout life. I started to think about how this could be included and made available to students of the Philadelphia public school system. Many of these children come from households where an opportunity to innovate and experiment is not always available to them.

I started looking in to Maker’s spaces and new focus on STEM; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. They have begun popping up in communities, but there has been a movement to make these spaces available within schools themselves. So what is a Maker’s space? It’s a place for children to solve problems, invent and be creative. It provides a variety of resources for kids to utilize materials, technology and their mind to solve problems. It allows children to work independently or collaboratively improving concepts for working both independently and with teamwork.

This space provides materials from the fundamental; rope, levers and weights, to the more complex; computers, 3D printers, laser cutters and software. It gives teachers the opportunity to develop creative lesson plans for students to invent something new or leverage the tools they have at their disposal to solve a potential problem. It will allow the students to express themselves creatively. People often forget that there are so many different ways to solve a problem and this will help in demonstrating the variety of paths one can take to get to a destination.

There a number of areas that this type of financing will be able to immensely support in getting this space up and running. After speaking with the school they do already have a space carved out for the Maker’s space. I will first utilize both my time and funds for preparing the room in terms of the necessary furniture and readying the room between cleaning and applying fresh coats of paint. Next I will work with the staff to finalize of a list of items that would be most exciting for the students to leverage. As mentioned previously this would range from both the fundamental to the more advanced. Some of those items would include a laser cutter, a 3D printer, a computer, craft materials and educational kits such as Kinex, Magnetic Tiles and Legos. I will then spend time with the staff to work on developing lesson plans with the faculty and ultimately participate in some of their first sessions inventing, building and problem solving.

Being a part of this would be so meaningful to me. I had a father that was so involved in my day-to-day school life and, as a father myself, I envision seeing myself being involved as he was. I recognize how important this is. If I can begin the process now to build a better experience for the kids of the Philadelphia school district that would be an amazing experience.

If you are not a native Philadelphian you may not be aware of some of the budget challenges the school district of Philadelphia has faced over the last several decades. I have been aware of it since I was in high school from 1996 – 2000. The school district has consistently faced budget challenges and has undergone state control without positive results which has now been passed back to the city. If there is any way I can give back I jump at the opportunity. I regularly attend cleanups and fundraisers to help out with when needed. To be able to give back to a group of teachers who were role models when I was in high school and to the teachers who are now my peers and I truly admire would mean the world to me.

Meet RSM Pursue Your Passion Winner: Devon Maslyn

Devon Maslyn | Associate | West Region

When my mom was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and given only four months to live, my family and anyone that she had ever met was impacted.

To understand why, you have to know that my mother was a super hero. She dropped out of high school, had a baby at 17, got married at 18 and had three more kids by 25. She fought for years for her marriage during my father's absence due to his alcoholism and addiction. She authored an award winning children's book, travelled the country speaking at women's conferences, and owned and operated an insurance company, all while being a mother of four. She had a loud laugh, a smile that lit up a room, people skills that allowed her to relate to anyone on the planet and a love for human life. She sang theater songs into her hairbrush while doing her hair. She found ways to burn Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. She’d hug her kids the tightest when we wanted it the least. My mother was special, plain and simple.

In 2012, after going to the hospital for dizziness and shortness of breath, our lives changed forever. She had a biopsy to determine what type of cancer she had. Glioblastoma Multiforme - the most aggressive brain cancer with nearly a zero percent survival rate. Before her biopsy, my mother said, “These surgeries might change me, but remember that you kids are my best thing.” She was right; the biopsy messed with a part of the brain that left a different mother than the one I’d grown up with. The surgery took away nearly all of her short term memory making ability. She’d forget conversations, where people lived, when she’d seen people last and what she ate for lunch that day. The inoperable tumor took the intangible “thing” that allowed her to remember details and connect with everyone she met. She couldn’t be left alone because of her memory, but she had hundreds of friends sign up to “babysit” her so that my dad could get a few hours of work in. Thanks to the superhuman caretaking by my father (he’s been sober for five years!), grandmother, and “babysitters,” we got three years with my mother before the cancer won. She was 46.

Those years of sickness were filled with horrible things like strokes, falls, seizures and near-death experiences; they were also filled with laughs, stories, photos, hugs and a lifetime of memories. During the three years, through chemo, radiation, migraines and more, my mother didn’t complain once - not a single time. Never a “why me?” or a response worse than “adequate” when asked how she was feeling. As a testament to how beautiful she was, over 2,000 people attended her memorial service. We received hundreds of letters from churches and individuals around the globe during her sickness. My mother was objectively spectacular.

I was 22 when she passed. It’s strange to think of how much I’ll have to do without her. She didn’t see me graduate college; she won’t see me get married. There’s no good way to cope with losing a mother, but I constantly remind myself that my mother is everywhere because I’m half her. My mother instilled in me an insatiable curiosity and a need for adventure. She gave me a genuine passion for people that friends and strangers notice frequently. I inherited her motivation to accomplish goals. I have her blue eyes. I like singing theater songs, especially when others can hear.

Where does RSM's Pursue Your Passion program come in?

Even at 46, she lived a full life. She accomplished nearly everything she wanted to. One thing she and my dad spoke about doing though, was completing the Camino de Santiago in Spain. It is a network of pilgrimage trails that ultimately lead to the shrine of the apostle Saint James. The trail is meant for travelers to grow and discover, both emotionally and spiritually. My idea, given the time and money from RSM, is to bike the 490 mile trail with my father while we carry my mother’s ashes. These miles would enable us to honor my mother by completing the trail for her. It would also empower my father and me to grow and develop as people in order to be better family members, friends, employees, and humans. The trail will be a thank you to my father for spending three years caretaking for my mom and his wife of nearly 30 years. Many people trek the Camino de Santiago, so the trail is a perfect place to connect with others from across the globe and share with them the love my mother was capable of giving. I want her passion for people to be evident through my interactions with others. I want to tell stories of her so that her memory never dies. I want the wind to carry her ashes from the peaks of the trail so that she can be free again. I want my mom to experience us living our life the way she would have lived hers.

With the money, I’ll buy transportation to and from the trail in Spain for my father and myself. I'll rent bikes for the two of us. I'll spend some funds on equipment like spare tires and tubes, tools, biking clothing, and other miscellaneous things to keep us up and running during the trip (sunscreen, rain tarp, bug spray). The remainder of the funds will be used for food and lodging along the way.

Regardless of whether or not I get selected to fulfill this experience, I am thankful for the opportunity and motivation to put pen to paper about this wonderful woman. Despite the tears, I've learned an immense amount about myself. I miss my mom like crazy. I miss how she listened. I miss her hugs. I miss her genuine concern for my well-being. I miss her every day. However, I’m hopeful that, thanks to RSM, she won’t miss accomplishing this trail.

Meet RSM Pursue Your Passion Winner: Jacob Morse

Jacob Morse | Associate | Central Region

On September 28, 2016, just 33 days before I was slated to start with RSM last fall, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

The uncertainty that came along with a cancer diagnosis was unsettling to say the least. Just over a month away from beginning my professional life, my roadmap had suddenly flown out the window and sat along the highway as I kept driving on. After a slew of scans, biopsies and surgeries I was given a stage 3b diagnosis (stage 4 being the most bleak), my treatment plan was in place and I was ready for some chemotherapy in mid-October.

Once treatment started I was able to think about my career again. I called my office’s (Denver) HR representative soon after my diagnosis, unsure of how my potential employer may react to the bad news. Thankfully I was assured that I’d still have my position at RSM, that my health was the most important, their top priority, and that I could take as much time as I needed during treatment. At this point I had a decision to make. I could wait at home, in rural Idaho, during a six month treatment or I could move the 700 miles to Denver, mid-treatment and begin my career. I elected the latter.

After about five months of treatment that included a week-long hospital stay, a blood transfusion and six cycles of chemotherapy, I was blessed enough to receive a clean scan on March 9, 2017 – just five days after my 24th birthday. Throughout the time from diagnosis to remission I realized, over and over again that, no one goes through cancer on an island. I was fortunate enough to have wonderful support throughout my treatment. I had an amazing girlfriend that was by my side at nearly every chemotherapy session, and my family and friends always called to see how things were going and sent gifts. RSM was also extremely accommodating allowing me to work when I could and rest when needed. Another large part of my support network was the young adult cancer community. Social workers at my hospital put me in touch with as many resources as they could, but often lamented that the young adult cancer community is one of the most underrepresented and underfunded. I would like to use the time off and funds provided by the 90-90-9 Pursue Your Passion award to become more involved in, and bring awareness to, the young adult cancer community now and for years to come.

First Descents and Hope for Young Adults with Cancer are two organizations that stood out to me while going through treatment and learning about support for young adults (typically age 18-39) with cancer. First Descents provides life-changing, outdoor adventures for young adults impacted by cancer and Hope for Young Adults with Cancer provides direct financial support to young adult patients and survivors through their “Giving Hope Fund.”

First Descents offers free week long outdoor experiences like rock climbing, kayaking or surfing and empowers participants to retake control of their lives after a diagnosis – all while connecting with other young adult cancer patients and survivors. By attending a First Descents trip, I hope to share my experience with other cancer survivors and learn from others’ experiences as well. I also hope to make great friends and become involved in the First Descents alumni system for years to come so that I can be better equipped to be a steward for the young adult cancer community.

First Descents’ slogan, “Out Living It,” is a call to action that bears a striking resemblance to one of RSM’s key tenets: Owning Our Future. When I was diagnosed last fall, I could have stayed in Idaho and let cancer decide my future. I chose to move away from home and begin my career during treatment. If First Descents helps survivors “outlive” their diagnosis I think I will fit right in and my survivorship experience will be greatly enhanced for the rest of my life.

The other organization I’d like to get involved with is Hope for Young Adults with Cancer. This April I attended a conference for young adult cancer patients and was very fortunate to cross paths with one of the co-founders of Hope for Young Adults with Cancer, Billy Paymaster. Billy told me about his organization and that his is one of very few that offer direct financial assistance to young adult cancer patients.

Having gone through a cancer treatment, I can say wholeheartedly financing the treatment was high on my list of concerns. Cancer isn’t cheap and organizations like Hope for Young Adults with Cancer strives to alleviate as much financial stress on patients as they can so that the patients can focus solely on their recovery. Billy’s organization is becoming better known in the cancer community which is fantastic, but this also means that there are more applicants for grants but not necessarily more money. In order to provide financial support to young adult cancer patients and survivors, I would like to support Billy’s organization.

Many hospitals and cancer treatment centers offer financial assistance to patients, but frequently that assistance doesn’t cover the full cost of treatment. Moreover, life doesn’t stop due to a cancer diagnosis. Patients still have bills to pay and children to feed and unfortunately not all employers have the ability to adjust to the physical and mental needs of their diagnosed employees the way that RSM did for me. By donating the majority of my Pursue Your Passion award to Hope for Young Adults with Cancer I will be helping cancer patients get through one of the most difficult challenges they’ll face in their lifetime and will be giving back to the community that helped me own my future when I was faced with the same challenge.