by Sandy Eller

Nearly 70 students celebrated their graduations from the separate men’s and women’s cohorts of Agudath Israel of America’s COPE CPA accounting program last week, completing a nearly two year-long intensive program that has them entering a market where jobs are both plentiful and lucrative.

While this year marked the 27th men’s and 26th women’s graduations, the program was vastly different than in previous years, with all classes given remotely because of the pandemic. COPE director Rabbi Daniel Baumann noted that many of the students met in person for the first time at their graduations, held on December 12th for the women’s group, and December 13th for the men.

The CPA track follows COPE’s Junior Accounting program, a shorter course on business essentials that prepares even students without prior business background for entry level accounting and business management positions. Many students who complete the Junior Accounting program decide to further their careers by following through to COPE’s optional CPA track.

While learning on Zoom involved certain limitations, it offered benefits as well. With nearly all of the students holding down full-time jobs as they made their way through the 22 month long program, not having to travel to classes afforded them extra time for their studies. Additionally, learning remotely made it possible for students from beyond the greater New York-New Jersey area to participate in the program, a phenomenon that never could have happened had classes been held in person.

Among those in attendance to congratulate the students on their academic achievements were Agudath Israel of America executive vice president Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel and author and lecturer Rabbi Paysach Krohn, with State Senator Diane Savino joining the women’s commencement and State Senator Simcha Felder taking part in the men’s graduation.

As always, the highlight of the graduation was hearing from the student representatives of each group. Miri Bojman, an accountant at FM Home Loans, was one of thirteen students who benefitted from an accelerated junior accounting program that was created in 2020 for seminary girls whose year in Israel was cut short by the pandemic, giving them the ability to enter the CPA track just a few months later. She praised COPE and its dedicated team of educators for providing the entire group with the necessary skills to take their places in the world of accounting as confident professionals and, in the future, as licensed CPAs.

Also addressing participants was Shaina Morozow, a bookkeeper at Up Realty LLC. She spoke about how she had no doubt that she would one day be recommending COPE graduates for employment positions, knowing that each one had been well prepared to enter the professional world and urged her classmates to dream big about their futures.

Yossi Rubin, an accountant at Balanced Accounts & Tax Services Ltd., discussed the well-rounded education he received as a COPE student in both the Junior Accounting and CPA programs, one that went far beyond balance sheets and tax law and included English skills as well as honesty and business ethics. Citing his 20 years of workplace experience, Elimelech Schonfeld, currently the controller at Allways Forwarding of NY, shared that he has been so impressed with the caliber of the COPE graduates he has personally hired, that he decided to enhance his knowledge by enrolling in the program.

“Having now gone through the COPE junior accounting program and CES-CPA track program myself, I can attest to its rigor and value,” said Mr. Schonfeld, adding, “I would strongly advise anyone, at any stage of their career, to go through the COPE junior accounting program and CPA track CES program.”

COPE has been providing well-regarded educational courses in keeping with the highest communal standards since it first opened its doors in 1977. Having seen some 700 students graduating from the CPA program and approximately 3,000 taking the junior accounting course, Rabbi Baumann found it gratifying to see multiple COPE families at this year’s graduations. Among the graduates was the son of COPE graduate who completed the program along with his wife, as well as a woman whose father took a COPE programming course in the eighties and a man whose brother graduated the advanced class last year.

Rabbi Krohn shared that he is the proud grandfather and the father in law of three COPE graduates as well.

“We have had a lot of really loyal families passing through our doors which we take as the highest compliment,” said Rabbi Baumann. “I truly believe that one of the overarching realities that sets us apart is the fact that we offer a Torah-true program, without compromising at all on quality. COPE has earned a great reputation and nothing makes us prouder than having happy employers calling us to rave about our former students.”