Jacob Rzepka is the Rotary Club of Cleveland's Excellence in Finance honoree for 2024. Jacob was born and raised in University Heights and went to Cleveland Heights Hight School. Throughout high school and college, he worked for a landscaping company. Every year, he would begin work as a part-timer in the spring. Once the semester ended, he would transition to full-time employment through the summer. Then, it was back to part-timer in the fall. Jacob says, “It was a good job for me as a student who loved to be active and make money at the same time. But more importantly, it allowed me to take a break from working during the winter without financial worry and focus on school when it mattered most.”

Jacob is looking forward to graduation in May. He has left his landscape job to engage in an internship at Carnegie Investment Counsel, working under Greg Halter, the head of research. Jacob expects the position to take him through the summer after he graduates and is happy to be gaining useful experience in the field of his future career.

Jacob’s most memorable experience while attending CSU was when he was involved in an accident on Dead Man's Curve trying to get to his 8:30 a.m. Introduction to Finance class. Says Jacob, “I was just around the end of the curve heading for the Chester exit when all of sudden a semi-truck side-swiped me from the back and sent me into a tailspin that ended with me banging into the cement median. The car was reversed and facing traffic in the left lane. Thankfully both the car and I were okay, and I still ended up making my class, only about 20 minutes late and just a little shaken up. It was quite the morning.”