2019 Donald Edward Bragg & Diane Sims Bragg Scholarship Recipient

Biography: James Owen Setiadi is a senior with a Business Economics major and Accounting minor. He was born in Jakarta, Indonesia and raised in Northridge, California. At UCLA, he joined the Beta Alpha Psi Accounting Honors Society. For the 2018-2019 school year, he served as the honor society’s Vice President of External Relations. In Summer 2019, he worked as an audit intern for KPMG, a Big 4 accounting firm. Alongside accounting, James has an interest in community service and marine biology. He volunteered at the Aquarium of the Pacific where he logged 426 service hours over the past 7 years.

Future Plans: After graduating, James plans on becoming a Certified Public Accountant. He will start his CPA journey as an audit associate at KPMG. He is excited to work with clients from a diverse range of industries. Later, he plans on leading his own engagement team as an audit senior manager or partner.

What this scholarship means to me: I am extremely grateful to be a recipient of the Donald Edward Bragg & Diane Sims Bragg scholarship.  As I learned in my business classes, “there is no such thing as a free lunch.” Covering my educational expenses will be a challenge that conflicts with my CPA journey. I face this challenge on my own since I am the first person in my family to graduate from a university in the United States. Therefore, this scholarship serves as a wonderful support system by allowing me to focus on enhancing my entrepreneurship skills and less on my financial burden. Thank you to the Bragg family for granting me this tremendous opportunity. I will not take this award for granted and work hard to give back to my community.