Hello,
My name is Finnian Sieg and I am a part of the business team for Pitt’s ACRI team this semester. I am majoring in finance with a minor in economics. A fun fact about me is I am the Finance Lead for our university’s FSAE team. This past June, we were awarded sixth place and we are pursuing a podium finish this year. Hailing from central PA, the AT runs very close to where I grew up. In fact, the halfway point was less than a 20-minute drive from my home. I used to hike sections of it for day hikes. I became interested in this project due to my connection with the mountains and attending college in western PA. I studied at the Johnstown campus of Pitt before transferring to Pittsburgh and exploring that local area has made me fond of the numerous spots and adventures I had.
This semester’s ACRI project for the business team focuses on Uniontown and specifically helping them obtain the information and data collection to then map out a rebrand of the Uniontown Business Development Authority. This project is important because it shows the essence of the urban rural divide issue and how to solve it. There has to be some allure for businesses to set up shop, but also for the public to go to those business so it become a chicken and the egg issue. In order for a business to set up, there needs to be a market, and on the other hand, people congregate and settle where there tend to be businesses and places of work. One does not work without the other, but at least for this project we are starting with the business side and working to develop a better downtown for Uniontown. From this project, I hope that our data will be used to seek additional funding streams to kickstart programs to enhance and strengthen the Uniontown community through our plan.
Professionally, I am pursing roles in consulting and found this opportunity to be a great experience for that endeavor. I find consulting at the intersection of my financial knowledge, my entrepreneurial creativity that inspires me to think outside the box, and my determination to solve a challenging adventure where I do not know all the puzzle pieces and have to get into the weeds to discover those critical and essential pieces and then determine the best course of action. Consulting is an experienced based career and given how hard it is to land a summer internship in that field, this is a great way to get that experience. There are no degrees for consulting and the only way to understand the cycle, client interactions, the etiquette, mindset and creativity is to actually do it. Having this experience will get me used to doing site visits, asking the deeper questions, actively listening to clients, developing solutions and customizing them to the client specifications, and seeing how my knowledge and experience can help. Essentially, I will already have a good foundation of the consulting flow and be able at add value in a full-time role right away.
I decided to join this project for the professional experience and in a non-cliche, give back to the community. While not my home community, I have grown fond of western PA as a whole with my explorations, the nature, and my skiing adventures. I feel connected to this side of the state. It has been my second home if you will since I have spent nine months out of the year over the past four years at college in this side of the state. I have spent numerous times at the three ski resorts close by, with Laurel Mountain being my favorite since it has one of the steepest runs in PA. There is also so much rich history that is not widely known. For example, I explored Staple Bend Tunnel, one of the oldest railroad tunnels in PA that was created for and used by the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal, which linked Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and it is nothing more than a hiking trail to and through the tunnel, but something that transformed transportation in PA. More specific to Uniontown, Fort Necessity is close by and being the history buff that I am, it is important to draw attention to these historical places, especially when they were important in the founding and pre-creation of the United States of America. Besides my tangent on history, I hope to refine my communication, project management, and critical thinking skills throughout this project.
