Tessie Arambula, a senior accounting major, is the next treasurer for the Student Government Association.

Q:  How did you decide that this year was a good time to be part of SGA?

A: I am friends with a lot of people who are in SGA, and they’ve talked to me about it before, but, like I’ve said, it required a time commitment I didn’t have, and this year they brought the idea up again. So then I reviewed the job description and thought it was something I could do pretty well.

Q: What internships have you taken part in?

A: The first one I did was last summer at Info Sync Accounting Services. It is an outsource accounting group. Pretty much what we do is help franchisees, people who know how to run businesses but don’t know the accounting side of it, and rather than hire a full accounting staff they’ll send us all the numbers and we do all the accounting and crank out all the financial statements of every week, month and year.

Q: Is that the only internship?

A: No. My second internship, and most recent one, was a public accounting firm, BKD. It’s a Regional Accounting Firm. There I was an audit intern; I worked with a different client every week and I did a little of bit of tax and a little bit of audit, but predominantly audit. When I heard SGA does four audits a year, I actually got kind of excited about it just because I know what I’ll be facing because I have been on that side and I’m excited to be on this side.

Q: What do you hope you’ll bring to SGA as treasurer?

A: Right now I just kind of want to dive in, learn a little bit about it and see where things stand. I look to finish [improvements] for him [former SGA Treasurer Chris Hall] and with him and by that time, I think once I’m a few months in, I’ll be able to better understand what changes need to be made or provide suggestions.

Q: How did you decide to become an accounting major?

A: It is a lot of my personality. I like structure and organization. I like to know the why of everything that I do. I like Excel and I like math and everything that goes into it. I have the principles that accountants have: integrity and objectivity.

Q: How do people react when you say you are an accounting major?

A: I don’t know. Most people say, “Oh, you’re an accounting major?” and they either think I’m really boring or that I’m just this person that stays in a cubicle all day and I swear I don’t.

Q: What are you plans for the future?

A: Right now I think I’m going to stay in the public sector as an auditor, maybe five to seven years and then when I’m a little older and looking to settle down, I’ll move into a higher position at a private firm.

Q: Any special hobbies?

A: I play violin and soccer. I play on indoor leagues and I do intramurals. Also, I like to hang out with people. I like looking up quotes; I take lots of quotes from TV shows.

Q: Are you involved anywhere else at Wichita State? 

A: Right now I am just in Greek Life; I’m a Gamma Phi Beta. I did a few other organizations, but like I’ve said, this position is very time demanding so I think I’m just going to be the treasurer, be in Gamma Phi Beta, be a student and keep life simple.

Q: Would you consider yourself the average accountant?

A:  Whenever I tell people what I do, I mean, if you just look at me, I look like a hippie to some people. A few of my friends coined me ‘Corporate Hippie.’ If I’m wearing my soccer stuff, you are like, ‘Oh, athletic. She’s really good at sports, probably not good at school.’ People always think I’m a Liberal Arts major or dance or anything but accounting.