Mindset Beyond the Immediate

In the spring and summer of 2023, Hannah Van Meeteren ’23 wasn’t studying only for the four-part exam that would make her a certified public accountant. She was studying for her future. 

“A deeper understanding would better equip me for the CPA exam process and even more so for the career that would follow,” Van Meeteren says. “I think this motivation may have set me apart.”

Indeed. It set her in the top 40 scores of more than 86,000 people who took the CPA exams that year. As a result, the American Institute of CPAs named her one of 40 winners of the Elijah Watt Sells Award. Van Meeteren also earned the highest score of those who took the exam in South Dakota in 2023.

Upon receiving scores for the first exam, Van Meeteren realized she had done very well, way beyond the minimum passing requirement. “Many would say I had ‘over-prepared.’” After the second exam, she learned of the award, which provided “… a little extra motivation but was never the single motivating factor.” 

“I have always tried to approach learning in and out of class with a mindset beyond the immediate,” says Van Meeteren. She credits Vonda (Elgersma ’88) Post, professor of accounting, for challenging students to learn skills instead of memorizing content. “All of my professors encouraged my peers and me to go beyond what was merely expected.”

“There were many days when I felt I couldn’t hold anything more in my brain,” says Van Meeteren. “It probably would have been easier and more enjoyable to spend the summer post-college and pre-career far from any accounting books and tests. Knowing that this process would be just a short season in a greater and longer story helped keep me motivated to stay on track.”

While tutoring at Northwestern, Van Meeteren realized she was able to understand accounting with relative ease and help others understand it too. In January, she began a new job doing just that, helping people with their taxes through her work at Eide Bailly, a large CPA firm in Des Moines, Iowa.