Phillip Buelterman-Mark Anderson Scholar
Phillip Buelterman (pictured left) is a Georgia Southern senior pursuing a BBA in accounting and is the recipient of the Mark Anderson scholarship for business. The scholarship, funded by Mark Anderson (joint owner of Joiner-Anderson Funeral Homes) was set up by Anderson who grew up in a large family and had to work his way through college.
“This [scholarship] may help in a small way for a student to spend more time toward their degree rather than having to work during school,” said Anderson.
Phillip first became interested in business while working in high school. He started out working as a bagger in Kroger and worked his way in to the accounting office. Buelterman handled the stores bookkeeping, rectifying cash receipts and bank deposits at the end of the night. Buelterman was the youngest in the accounting office but said because he was confident in his abilities, that his age didn’t affect his work.
Once he came to Georgia Southern University, he credits Dr Gloria Stewart for choosing to become an accounting major.
“I had Dr Stewart for financial accounting as a pre-business major and her class made up my mind for me,” said Buelterman.
He also acknowledges the hard work that Dr. Jackson pulls out of his students. Dr. Jackson has an infamous reputation in the business school for being incredibly tough on his students, but as Buelterman pointed out, he is a completely different person in his office and he is hard on his students so they will be prepared for the “real world.”
“Dr. Jackson just lets you know that not everything is going to be baby spoon fed to you and that you’re not going to like every boss you have,” said Buelterman.
In the spring, the Anderson scholar is taking a break from classes and instead is interning. Starting in the summer he will complete his final two undergraduate classes and will begin 
working towards his CPA and sitting for the exams. Once he completes the exams he will need one year of direct experience under a CPA to receive his certificate. His plan is to work at a public accounting firm so that he can get a feel for all of the aspects of accounting and then he will try to go in to a specific industry.
“Public accounting is incredibly busy, especially in the months before tax season so I don’t know if I can make a 20-year career out of it. But every industry has their own way of doing their accounting,” added Buelterman.
Mark Anderson (pictured right) assessing students’ venture trade stand in our entrepreneurship course.
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