b'All-In AlumniPam, Bus 84, and Randy, BS Acc 84, Oberdiek are regular faces at Mizzou events, from tailgates and board meetings to fundraisers and Zoom calls.and Pam is just as passionate about education, says Vairam Arunachalam, director of the School of Accountancy. They both have a deep appreciation for the academic values and mission of our great university. The Oberdieks kept saying yes until, eventually, Pam Dont ask Randy and Pam Oberdiek to try to calculatebecame MAA president and Randy chair of the Finance how much time theyve spent volunteering for Mizzou.Committee. Pam received one of the associations 2020 Between 20+ years of meetings for the Kansas CityTiger Pride awards. chapter and national governing board of the MizzouRandy says one thing just led to another. Pam says there Alumni Association (MAA), case competitions and guestmight have been beer involved. MAA Executive Director lectures for the Trulaske College of Business, and 150- Todd McCubbin, M Ed 95, says its their small-town mile drives from Platte City to Columbia and back, thevalues: They have a high say/do ratio. When they say hours add up to more than they can count. theyre going to do something, they get it done. Theyre But so do the unforgettable moments theyvethere for people. Theyre all in. experienced along the way. Like the time they got to hearWhen a loved one passes away, they make a memorial Curators Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biologicalgift to the university in their honor, resulting in donations Sciences George Smith talk about winning the Nobelto forestry, accounting, nursing, music, the hospital and Prize. Or the time they ate dinner with SportsCenterathletics. When the football and mens basketball teams anchor John Anderson, BJ 87. Or the time they tailgatedplay, theyre in the stands, even in freezing weather in with Tiger quarterback Chase Daniels mom in The GroveAmes, Iowa, (which is why some people mistakenly believe at Ole Miss.they have a son on the team) and even on weeknights You get so much more than you give, Pam says. And(which is why some people mistakenly believe they live in for a couple of high school sweethearts and first-generationColumbia). And when business students need internships, college students from rural Missouri, the university hadthey help place them at their companies.already given them a great deal. I grew up in the suburbsOwing to the pandemic, its been a while since either of a town of about 200 people, jokes Randy, who wasOberdiek has been in ColumbiaWere having raised on a farm outside of Farley. Scholarships helpedwithdrawals right now, Pam saysbut theyre still at cover their tuition, and their education laid the foundationMizzou meetings via Zoom. Pam just wrapped up her for their careersRandy at the CPA firm BKD and Pamservice as a member of the Mizzou: Our Time to Lead at Hallmark. If you want to improve peoples lives, I thinkcampaign cabinet, and both Oberdieks are on advisory the way you do it is through education, Randy says.boardsPam for the Crosby MBA and Randy for the So, in the mid-1990s, when one of Randys businessSchool of Accountancy. associates asked the couple to help out at a Kansas CityYou dont always know which one of us is going to show alumni chapter picnic that raises money for scholarships,up, Randy says. But somebody will.they said yes. Randy is very much an academic at heart,Originally published in MIZZOU magazine, Winter 202134 School of Accountancy'