Congratulations to Cassandra Siwy, a senior accounting major who recently received the Buffalo Niagara Business Ethics Association (BNBEA) scholarship. Siwy hails from Orchard Park, NY and plans to graduate with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Dec 2020. She will then continue her education at Niagara while pursuing her M.S. in Finance.
On July 24, Siwy was presented with a check for $500 by representatives from BNBEA James M. Bedard, Director and Alison Romanowski, Vice President & Treasurer. Dr. Mark Frascatore, dean of the College of Business Administration, Prof. Vince Agnello, chair of the Accounting Dept. and her parents Paul and Wendy Siwy were also in attendance.
Niagara University is a partner organization in the BNBEA. Each year, companies from the Buffalo/Niagara Region are nominated for the Crystal Award by their peers in the business community. The nominees that wish to be considered for the award are invited to submit in depth entries that describe their organizations on several different dimensions.
Siwy was the project manager that coordinated the students and supervised the evaluation process. Her project manager duties included forming category committees and assigning students to complete initial reviews, tracking completed work and keeping the project moving on schedule, communicating and coordinating with BNBEA Board Representatives, and providing guidance to students and category committees as needed.
Students participated in judging the entries submitted by companies that are nominated for the award, and select 3 finalists for each award category. Students are provided with an opportunity to get an “inside” look at companies and the importance they place on acting ethically and the value they place on being perceived as an ethical organization. They are able to see how different organizations put their ethical values into action and to apply their knowledge of ethics to work by evaluating the nominees.
Siwy described how beneficial this opportunity was to her, "It was an honor to be project manager and to work with Mrs. Romanowski and the BNBEA. It helped build on my leadership and organizational skills and reinforced the importance of effective communication. As President of Beta Alpha Psi, I can speak on behalf of all the participating members and say that we appreciate the opportunity and look forward to future endeavors with the committee."
Siwy has served in several leadership roles while at Niagara, including as President of Beta Alpha Psi honor society and Vice President of Sigma Alpha Sigma and both club basketball and soccer. She is also a member of Delta Epsilon Sigma and Beta Gamma Sigma. After college, she plans to pursue her CPA.
This past spring, she interned with the Buffalo Bills in their Finance Department and during the summer she virtually interned at Deloitte in the Audit and Assurance dept. and accepted a full time offer upon graduation.
Prof. Vince Agnello, chair of the Accounting Dept. expressed his congratulations to Siwy, “I am so happy that the BNBEA decided to award Cassandra with a scholarship. She put her heart into making sure this project was successful. Under Cassandra’s leadership and the hard work of many of our accounting and business students, we are able to demonstrate to the business community the excellent students we develop at Niagara University.”