Krystal Rivera

From November 14th through the 17th, Krystal Rivera will travel to Columbus, Ohio as one of two Monte Ahuja College of Business students selected to participate in The KeyBank Leadership and Creativity Undergraduate Minority Student Symposium on The Ohio State University campus.

"I nominated Krystal for the symposium because she is one of our high-achieving students at CSU and also will fully embrace and immerse herself in the symposium," said Anne Nelson, Assistant Dean of Student Services. "She will represent CSU and the Ahuja College of Business well, is not afraid to take risks and is looking to develop leadership skills beyond the classroom." 

The Senior Accounting major welcomes and loves travel. Ironically, Krystal chose Cleveland State without setting foot on campus. Originally from Houston, Texas, Krystal chose CSU as a result of wanting to have an affordable education with a university that offered a city experience in a location that was not too large or too small.  While Krystal admits that choosing a college without a campus tour might be scary for some, she felt well-prepared from watching YouTube videos that CSU students made, viewing Cleveland State students' social media posts about campus life, viewing the Cleveland State social media channels and Googling campus photos.

"Going somewhere new was exciting," Krystal says. "One thing that I noticed that I thought was pretty cool, was the campus' location right in the center of downtown Cleveland. I thought it was really unique for a college to be right in the middle of a city versus a college town." 

Krystal has spent two summers as an intern at the Bank of America. During the summer of 2019, she interned at their location in Charlotte, North Carolina. While there, she was able to work on balance sheets, month-over-month analysis, report on equity balances and much more.

Krystal is also a recipient of the Glasscock Family Scholarship. A unique scholarship with a unique set of donors, the Glasscock family keep in close contact with their scholars routinely reaching out. 

"I am so grateful for their gift," said Krystal. "I'm even more grateful that they genuinely care enough to reach out to their scholarship recipients and ask us how we are doing."

What's in the future for Krystal?

"As an Accounting major I am open to different types of opportunities," she said. "I have learned through my internships what I enjoy and do not enjoy doing and am open to working in finance or human resources."

After graduation, Krystal will be working at The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, in Chicago, Illinois. She has accepted an Analyst position in the bank's rotational program and will have the opportunity to work in multiple areas of the bank. 

We can't wait to hear what Krystal has learned after The KeyBank Leadership and Creativity Undergraduate Minority Student Symposium.