Taylor Asfour

For Taylor Asfour '17, the tennis team, dorm leadership, core classes, and the accounting major were all pieces of a puzzle that lead him to where he is today: Calvin’s one-year master’s of accounting program.

Current role: Masters of Accounting Program at Calvin College

How were faith, leadership and ethics practices woven into your courses? How did those elements prepare you for life, regardless of where you work?
On the surface, accounting seems like a pretty objective subject without any room for faith, but that is very far from the truth. In all of the business and accounting classes that I took, we discussed the underlying ethics and virtues that should guide a Christian's approach to their work. Businesses need people who can stand behind what they believe in, no matter what. Calvin provided opportunities for me to wrestle with what I believe and to discover how I can take those beliefs into the workplace.

What’s one thing you would want to tell someone starting their journey at Calvin?
Find a way to get plugged in as soon as you can. I was fortunate enough to be able to serve in dorm leadership and be on the tennis team, and these experiences gave me a community right away. There are so many options on campus, and they all give you great chances to meet new people and have all different kinds of friends.

What about Calvin specifically prepared you for this next step in your journey?
Being encouraged to step outside of my comfort zone and pursue professional internships was probably the most important thing that Calvin did for me. It was pretty scary to put on a suit and try to sell myself to business people, but my professors and the Career Center helped prepare me for it. Getting through the process with opportunities available to me gave me a lot of confidence going forward, and it really confirmed that accounting was the path that I was supposed to be on.

What’s one thing that surprised you about Calvin?
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed some of my core classes. I wasn’t super enthused about having to take so many courses outside of my major when I first got to Calvin, especially since I had no choice but to take a lot of them in my first year. Each year, however, as I had more control over what classes I took, I took some core classes that really surprised me in how much I enjoyed them. Some of my favorite memories were my film, kinesiology and chemistry classes where I got to learn about something totally new with students from many different disciplines.