Jennifer Henning sells children's books to small bookstores for Random House. Her favorite character is Lucille, a piglet who struggles victoriously to get into a snowsuit.

"She has a great spirit," Henning said of the character, "that young, ready-for-anything kind of spirit."

She might as well be describing herself.

Henning, 31, of Sykesville, just graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Baltimore. She is due to have her first child in September and is beginning a job search she hopes will land her in public accounting.

She hasn't let the recent turmoil in the profession deter her.

Instead, she has studied it.

"I was drawn to the Enron thing," she said.

She discussed it with her professors, followed it on CNN.com and tried to imagine how she would resist if a client wanted her to fudge the numbers.

"I'm a little more apprehensive or intrigued to get into the profession to see how big of a difference is there between the theory and the actual," she said.

She would like to believe that the idealism of her classes isn't far removed from the real world of business, but she also wonders apprehensively: "How naive am I?"