Accountancy junior Noah Normington-Slay is this year’s OSCPA Student Ambassador. In this role, Noah focuses on educating his peers about the versatility of an accounting degree and promoting the CPA license.
With light support from Hannah Thomas, OSCPA’s manager of student activities, Noah conducts two presentations each month, sharing his interest in accountancy with fellow students in various campus organizations and introductory accounting courses. “Sometimes I’ll branch out and go to broader organizations, because I know people outside of accounting enjoy learning about other fields, too,” he said.
Noah comes from an “entirely medical” family and originally applied to Miami University as a pre-med major. However, he realized he wanted more flexibility in his future career choices. “I’m a lifelong learner… I want to continue to have that opportunity to join new sectors, or switch up the route I want to take.” Mentors suggested picking a business major, and his father helped him narrow down that choice to accountancy.
Noah’s father started as a physical therapist and is now in healthcare administration. Noah recounts their conversation: “He said, ‘We’re dying to get accountants that want to take on leadership roles, that want to advance. It’s an underserved area.’ So he’s like, ‘I think that would be great for you.’”
At Miami, Noah is a member of the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity and its East Bridge Consultancy group. One consulting project he’s working on involves mini data center deployment strategies. “Instead of building these massive warehouses that are hundreds of thousands of square feet, they take unused rooms in common public places, like a basement or storage room that nobody uses, and put little mobile data centers there,” he explained. Noah also serves as a Supplemental Instruction Leader for Finance 301, holding review sessions in Krieger Hall for up to 100 students at a time.
Outside of academics and his professional commitments, Noah stays active through running and weightlifting and participates in service and faith-based activities. He currently leads a campus Bible study and serves on the local leadership team for Run With Christ, a national run club combining two-mile Saturday morning runs with community fellowship, energy drinks, and ice baths.
For Noah, the ambassador role is also an opportunity to mentor other students: “I get to help and educate the underclassmen who might not have found that mentor, that’s an upperclassman, and so I enjoy that.”