January 2000

COAP Alumni Reunite at Holiday Party

Alumni, parents, advisory board members, and counselors from last summer's Career Opportunities in the Accounting Profession (COAP) residency attended a holiday party held at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP on December 27.

COAP, sponsored by the NYSSCPA, FAE, academia, and the profession, is a college summer residency program that exposes high school minority students to accounting careers. The 1999 holiday party marked the first time Hofstra '99 program participants met their counterparts from the Pace '99 program. The students also networked with COAP advisory board members and older alumni and enjoyed the holiday spirit with music, dancing, and food.

At the party, many alumni, now high school seniors, talked about the colleges they hope to attend this fall.

"I applied to Penn State," said Shomari Whyte, a Pace COAP participant who plans to major in accounting. "The COAP program has helped me greatly during the selection and application process."

Another Pace residency alumna, Monika Parzonko, said that her visit to Pace during the September reunion session influenced her decision to apply to that university.

Attendants included New York City COAP advisory board Chair Patricia Adams; Long Island COAP advisory board Chair Edward McDougal; board members Anthony Kendall, Robert Rosario, and C. Daniel Stubbs; former COAP counselors and alumni Damon Duke, Aisha Phillipson, and Coleen Powell; and more than 40 alumni from the Pace and Hofstra residencies. The COAP advisory board thanks PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for hosting the party and distributing fleece shirts as holiday gifts.

In addition to NYSSCPA funding, COAP is supported by donations from individuals, accounting firms, and corporations. To contribute, send tax-deductible donations made payable to the Foundation for Accounting Education to COAP, NYSSCPA/FAE, 530 Fifth Avenue, 5th floor, New York, NY 10036-5101. For more information, contact Ed Parker at (212) 719-8382, (800) 633-6320, or eparker@nysscpa.org. *