Jill Dequaine, talent acquisition manager for Schenck SC, was quite impressed with the poised Lakeland College accounting student she met during an on-campus mock interview session a few years back.
“I told Scott right then, ‘You’re going to be a Schencker one day,’” Dequaine recalls with a laugh. “After our mock interview, I hooked him up with our Manitowoc office for an internship, and obviously he’s done very well.”
Indeed he has. After a promotion last fall, 2012 Lakeland grad Scott Stuckmann is a fast-rising senior accountant whose goal is to become a Schenck shareholder.
Stuckmann is just one of numerous success stories representing the symbiotic relationship between Schenck SC – a Wisconsin CPA and business consulting firm – and Lakeland’s vaunted accounting program. According to Dequaine, about 40 of Schenck SC’s roughly 500 team members around the state are Lakeland College graduates.
Stuckmann’s paid junior-year internship with Schenck went so well, he had a full-time job going into his senior year. He interned there again as a senior, then began his Schenck career the same month he graduated.
“It’s a great relationship,” Dequaine says of the strong pipeline between Lakeland and Schenck. “We are pleased with Lakeland’s accounting program and the curriculum. We are drawing great students.”
Stuckmann grew up on a farm in Newton, Wis., and attending high school at nearby Manitowoc Lincoln. He didn’t think he’d like accounting, but changed his mind, in large part because of longtime faculty icon J. Garland Schilcutt, emeritus professor of business administration.
“The biggest thing that turned me on to accounting was Professor Schilcutt’s accounting principles class,” said Stuckmann. “It was a tough class, very demanding, but also very rewarding.”
Once he discovered his academic path, he soared at Lakeland, excelling in the classroom, working in the registrar’s office, helping run convocations and honing his skills in Lakeland’s Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. VITA, sponsored by Schenck, involves Lakeland accounting students preparing tax returns for lower-income Sheboygan-area citizens.
“That was really great,” Stuckmann recalls. “Learning tax preparation software, communicating with the people we were helping … the whole experience made me feel like I had a leg up on everybody who didn’t have this opportunity.”
During Stuckmann’s junior year, Bob Martin, adjunct instructor of accounting, worked with Lakeland Success Coach Jessica Lambrecht to set up on-campus mock interviews with Dequaine. Stuckmann was a bit intimidated by the idea, but made a great impression.
“Lakeland’s Success Coaches really want to help,” Stuckmann says. “Students should definitely take advantage. When I was there, Jess really helped me get my resume in order. They also provide interviewing tips, mock interview opportunities and speed networking sessions with employers. You can tell they really care a lot about the students and want them to be successful.”