Sunny Gauli has had an eventful senior year at SUNY Oswego and it is just the middle of October. The Student Association Director of Finance (SA DOF) has been working hard this year to control the SA budget, while also learning lessons from class and the hard parts of his job, to prepare for his career after college.
Gauli’s journey to become SA DOF follows the journey of many other student leaders here at SUNY Oswego. He came to the SUNY school as an international student from Nepal. SUNY Oswego had interested Gauli due to its accounting program and the professors that work for the School of Business. Becoming a director for SA was just something that occurred once he got to campus.
“I joined accounting society my first semester,” Gauli said. “From there I started getting involved in clubs and participating in the events and activities. My junior year I got to know last year’s DOF and I was excited about what he did as director of finance. I felt it would be really good for my resume and help me improve professionally. I helped in the spring as assistant director of finance and was like, ‘yeah, this is the work I want to do.’”
Gauli finds his ascend to this position and the first two months of the school year as a journey. He has been learning lessons along the way and looks to apply those to what comes in his future.
“I feel like this job has been really challenging,” Gauli said. “I feel that every person needs to get out of their comfort zone and try to do some challenging stuff. It really helps you to grow individually and as a professional as well. In the future I will be working in a team environment, meaning I need to work with a lot of people and collaborate with them successfully.”
The SUNY Oswego SA is a large organization, meaning the DOF has a lot of financial decisions to make. Gauli has been adjusting to all these responsibilities and has had the support of the full-time staff of SA to help him along the way.
“Main responsibility of the director of finance will be to have the budget ready in the spring,” Gauli said. “Then we will be discussing it with the budget council and eventually voting on it. I have been getting help so far a lot from the full-time staff here working within the student association and utilizing them as a great resource.
The budget process for SA requires many hours of preparation and the input and requests of all the student clubs and organizations on campus. That is only the spring responsibility for Gauli. So far, communicating with all the clubs and making sure treasury training for the treasurers of each organization was his fall focus. This has led to Gauli being in his office located at The Point in Marano Campus Center or in meetings, for 15-20 hours a week.
All this work leads to trying to get a job in the coming years in finance for Gauli. He finds the experience worthwhile and looks forward to his career ambitions.
“This is my fourth year [at SUNY Oswego],” Gauli said. “I am already enrolled in the five-year MBA program here at Oswego. My main aim will be to get the CPA (Certified Personal Accountant) license as soon as possible. So, after my MBA, I will apply for the CPA license and try to get it in the 2023 year hopefully.”
