Capitalizing on an Opportunity

by Andrew Chesebro

For women's soccer senior Siobhan Gillan, being a student-athlete means much more than just continuing her soccer career. Instead, soccer has presented the academic standout with an opportunity to build a career from the ground up, using the principles she has learned from her parents who were never afforded the same educational opportunities.

Siobhan's parents own and operate an autobody shop in their home of San Diego, Calif. Her father, Jim, never attended college and her mother, Linda, completed her college degree two years ago at Cal State San Marcos. Without a formal education to help them, the Gillans relied on hard work and pride to make their business succeed.

"My parents ... taught me the importance of taking pride in what you do and doing it to the best of your abilities." -- Siobhan Gillan

"My parents never pushed me academically," Gillan said, "but they taught me the importance of taking pride in what you do and doing it to the best of your abilities."

Performing to the best of her abilities has helped Siobhan to succeed both athletically and academically at American. Last year, she was named to the Patriot League's Academic Honor Roll and was one of only 12 players in the league with a 4.0 GPA.

"I've had to create a boundary between soccer and the rest of my life," Gillan said. "When I am on the soccer field I am committed one hundred percent to soccer and when I am off the field I can focus on everything else."

In the classroom, Siobhan has been one of the Kogod School of Business' top students. She will graduate this December, a semester earlier than the rest of her classmates, with a specialization in accounting.

"Accounting seems to be the best fit for me," Gillan said. "While studying management and being a part of a team I felt as if I was just learning new terms for concepts I already knew. In marketing there is very little job security and I don't think that it would be good for me. Accountants are continually in high demand and it seems to me that it is the one area of business in which you actually acquire a skill."

If your assuming that Siobhan has done her research you have assumed correct. She has been proactive since joining the AU community and has invested heavily into her career of choice.

Siobhan Gillan was one of 12 Patriot League players to earn a 4.0 grade point average in the Fall of 2006.

"I read all of the newsletters that the Kogod School sent out to us about career fairs," Gillan said. "I took all the advice I could get and went to all of them."

Her attendance at those career fairs landed Siobhan two internships, one with a local accounting firm in Bethesda, Md., and one with the accounting giant Ernst & Young in San Diego. While most student-athletes take advantage of their inherent perks and status, Siobhan believes that investing in her future is much more important than spending an hour watching the latest reality TV hit.

"It is tough to manage my career while being an athlete because athletics demands most of my time," Gillan said. "But I see a lot of athletes who dedicate so much time to their sport and none to gaining professional experience. Once they graduate it is almost too late for them to get a start."

With her exemplary record in the classroom and her various outside experiences, Siobhan has more than started toward a successful accounting career. After graduation she will commit herself to passing several licensing exams and then join the full-time staff of Ernst & Young in January, 2009.

Siobhan's plans for her career have even gone as far as to plan out her first few years as a professional. She hopes to work her way to a management level position with E&Y, an achievement that she expects to take five years, before deciding whether to continue with the company or make the switch to a private firm.

"It is a lot of hours to commit right away," Gillan said, "but you have to put in the time at some point to achieve your goals."

Whatever those goals are, Siobhan is sure to push the limits of her own capabilities just as she has done the last four years as a model student-athlete and adapt to her surroundings as needed.

"I have this great plan but who knows what will happen," Gillan said. "Although I have these plans I realize that life happens and things change. It may be tough to get through those changes but I have accepted that fact and look forward to wherever my future takes me."