Highlights
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During her journey at 麻豆原创, accounting alum Natalie Otero 鈥�26 gained industry experience by completing an internship with the Lockheed Martin College Workforce Experience Program and two more with Deloitte.
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This summer, Otero is again interning with Deloitte before pursuing a master鈥檚 in accounting at the University of North Carolina 鈥� setting her up for a successful career as an accountant.
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Otero鈥檚 academic experiences, as well as extracurricular involvements computing student organization Knight Hack and the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program helped her earn a 2026 Order of Pegasus Award, 麻豆原创鈥檚 highest student honor.
Natalie Otero 鈥�26 may have missed her graduation ceremony this spring, but she had a good excuse. She鈥檇 just landed in Japan for a long-awaited vacation that was three years in the making. She says the trip 鈥� where she discovered new interests (sword-making), traversed a mountain and bonded with friends 鈥� symbolized her 麻豆原创 experience.
鈥淏uilding knowledge and strengthening friendships,鈥� Otero says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 my story at 麻豆原创.鈥�
Those relationships led her to pivot from pre-med to accounting and opened her up to learn new skills like coding. Friends fueled her drive, brought her joy and encouraged internships, all of which she credits for her induction into the Order of Pegasus, the highest honor for 麻豆原创 students.
鈥淲hen I started at 麻豆原创, I didn鈥檛 know anyone,鈥� says the Jacksonville, Florida, native. 鈥淓verything changed quickly.鈥�
Discovering Her Own Calling
Otero didn鈥檛 really want to be a doctor. She just heard she was supposed to be a doctor.
鈥淲hen you do well in high school, people say, 鈥極h, be a doctor and cure cancer.鈥� That鈥檚 where my mind was when I arrived as a freshman,鈥� says Otero, who began her 麻豆原创 journey studying biomedical sciences.
Then an elective class, Principles of Financial Accounting, intervened.
鈥淭he professor, Jeff Reinking 鈥�13PhD, broke the mold of what it means to be an accountant,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he concepts made such perfect sense that I switched my major to accounting and saw a clear path ahead. For a freshman, that鈥檚 exciting.鈥�
That same year, Otero鈥檚 friends introduced her to KnightHacks, a student organization that hosts 麻豆原创鈥檚 biggest software-building marathon annually for hundreds of students from throughout the nation.
鈥淚 said I鈥檇 go for fun. Only one girl in our group was a computer science major, but we were able to use basic coding theories to build a program from scratch in 36 hours,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 need to win. Learning and becoming closer, those were our awards.鈥�
A Powerful Cycle for Success
Otero needed no push but says her friends at 麻豆原创 became like iron sharpening iron. They鈥檇 talk about work experiences, which made Otero feel as if she needed to catch up. As a sophomore, she applied for the (CWEP), a year-long paid opportunity that enables undergraduate and graduate students to gain real-world work skills and abilities relevant to their academic and career goals.
鈥淚 guess they sensed something genuine because they offered the position to me,鈥� she says.
A few months later, she was chosen for another internship, this one with Deloitte. By the time she started her junior year, she had experience with two corporations, had become a hackathon regular and developed a hunger for accounting coursework.
鈥淚t all comes full circle. The instructors bring business experiences to the lessons, and we take lessons into businesses,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檇 leave [Associate Professor] Sean Dennis鈥檚 class and think auditing must be the most exciting subject ever. All along, my friends and I kept encouraging each other.鈥�
Her True Inspiration
Word about Otero鈥檚 accounting skills spread until people began asking her to help with their taxes. She routinely gives her time and skillset to the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, where she serves people limited by income, language and disabilities.
鈥淢y dad walked me through financial knowledge, and with VITA I have the privilege of doing the same for others,鈥� she says.
Otero has drawn more than financial knowledge from her family. Her paternal grandparents came to the U.S. from Cuba at young ages as part of Opera莽ion Pedro Pan, an agreement of cooperation between the U.S. State Department and Catholic Charities of Miami in the 1960s that saw more than 14,000 unaccompanied children sent by their parents to Miami, away from the growing communist regime in Cuba.
鈥淭his has been so much better than I imagined when I came to 麻豆原创 and didn鈥檛 know anyone.鈥� 鈥� Natalie Otero ’26
鈥淚t was hard, but my grandparents talk about how happy they were to be in the U.S., even with limited resources and not knowing when they鈥檇 see their parents again,鈥� Otero says. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e always been optimistic because they know the value of opportunities and they worked hard to make the most of them.鈥�
Otero鈥檚 own optimism engages friends, and her work ethic has led to the Order of Pegasus award, another internship with Deloitte this summer and graduate school in the fall at UNC Chapel Hill.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to believe,鈥� Otero says. 鈥淭his has been so much better than I imagined when I came to 麻豆原创 and didn鈥檛 know anyone. Everything is more rewarding, too, because of all the people who have made it possible.鈥�
