Chris Leon, former student of University of Missouri-St. Louis and native of Oakville, Missouri, was awarded the Elijah Watt Sells Award. Every year, this award is given to the top ten scorers (based on cumulative score) of the Uniform Certified Public Accountants examination. In 2008, close to 85,000 people took the test.
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) created the Elijah Watt Sells Award in 1923 in honor of Elijah Watt Sells himself. Sells was the first person to qualify as a CPA in New York in 1896. From the time the award was created up until 1935, there was only one Sells award given after each test. After 1935, the top two highest cumulative scores received the award (in the form of gold and silver medals). In 1978, a bronze medal was added. It was not until the test became computerized that the additional seven recipients were added.
In the last five decades, aside from Leon, there have only been two other people from Missouri to be awarded this honor. In a news brief released by the University of Missouri-St. Louis Leon said,
"I was surprised to receive the Elijah Watt Sells Award. I knew I did well on the exam, but it truly was a shock and an honor."
Leon graduated in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in business (emphasis on finance) and a bachelor's degree in accounting. Leon credits much of his success to the professors at UM-St. Louis.
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