Q&A with Christopher Firch
Accounting and business management junior Christopher Firch has plenty of titles.
The expected Class of 2024 graduate recently added another to his lengthy list.
Student body president.
Firch’s successful presidential run for the University of Oklahoma’s Student Government Association was born out of Firch’s admiration for his future alma mater. His vision as president draws on the memorable OU experience he’s still creating. He just wants to share the wealth with everyone who attends the university.
Price College recently caught up with Firch to learn why OU was the best place for him to develop as a person, student and business leader.
Why did you come to OU?
No. 1 was location, No. 2 was money, and No. 3 was the community. And I think the last part — community — was the most important part of me coming to OU.
I'm a tour guide, and one thing I always tell families is to go to a place where you feel seen, valued and loved just like OU has made me feel seen valued and loved.
I didn't feel like an applicant number I felt like a name with a face, with a story and with a purpose, and I felt like I could thrive here as me.
Why did you choose to major in business?
Business is always something I was interested in back when I was in high school. I came to OU as a business undecided major. I knew I kind of wanted to navigate what I wanted and liked, and I think accounting and business management for me were really good dual degrees.
Accounting has always been something I've been interested in since I took my first accounting class my sophomore year. I knew business management as another major would be a great way to follow and dive deeper into what that means.
I think selfishly, a business management major is really great for me as far as just a business leader and being the student body president, being able to navigate kind of great management practices and just maybe challenges that may occur, whether I'm a student here at OU, but more importantly, as a business professional and as a business leader.
What have you gained from the JCPenney Leadership Program?
It helped me exponentially, as far as a professional sense. Whether it's certain tasks like creating a LinkedIn account or creating a Handshake account or how to write a cover letter, how to make sure your resume is tailored to the job you're applying for. But also help me get a lot of confidence in myself as just a leader.
I know, at the beginning of my sophomore year before I was in JCPenney, when I went to the [OU] career fair was very frightening task, and even I would consider myself outgoing. It was still very scary, [thinking of] what to say to recruiters, how to sell yourself, while still showing humility. And I think my junior year, once I was a member of JCPenney and went to the career fair, I had a lot of confidence of how to sell myself and what to say to recruiters.
I think a lot of that was because of JCPenney and them equipping me to succeed inside and outside the classroom.
How has Price College shaped your OU experience?
“I think a significant part of my Price College of Business experience was the First Fidelity Integrated Business Core, the IBC program. I was able to create a company with about 19 other students.
I learned a lot, as far as you know marketing, management and legal studies kind of techniques but also just other things. Like how to create an Excel sheet to organize your inventory in a correct manner or what it's like to sell your product to customers, some that may have no interest in buying your product. How to manage conflict, how to pick a certain product based on marketing and supply-chain research that your company has done. What do you do when you disagree on a certain thing.
I think there was a lot of just real-world issues that may be difficult to really truly simulate in a classroom and so I think IBC gave me a really good opportunity to gain some really great knowledge and experience with a plethora of real-world scenarios in a real-world environment.
