"I felt like I had been in school for so long and I was ready to apply what I’ve learned rather than spend an extra year taking classes. I’m pretty much just ready to get out there."

Emma Mower has taken initiative throughout her college career – and she brought that same drive to her work life with Education at Work.

Emma, an early-grad, is set to earn her degree in business administration from Arizona State University in December. She spent her last semester of college with EAW with a plan to gain real-world job experience.

“I really wanted to be able to get out into the real world,” Emma says. “I felt like I had been in school for so long and I was ready to apply what I’ve learned rather than spend an extra year taking classes. I’m pretty much just ready to get out there.”

Emma was hired with EAW’s Downtown Phoenix team in December, 2019 and completed her training in January. After only a month of working on the job, Emma applied for – and was promoted to – a student-coaching position.

Taking initiative is a repeated skill Emma has used as she navigated college. Originally studying accounting at ASU, Emma switched majors after managing her family-owned business.

Now, as a student coach, Emma gets to wrap up her final semester of college with the experiences needed for her degree, giving her a head start in her career field. For the past five months, Emma has assisted her supervisors with administrative work, team management, and of course, coaching sessions with students who are new to the job.

“If I had to give advice to my younger self, it would be don’t be afraid of being told, ‘no,’” Emma says. “I think I lost a lot of opportunities because I didn’t want to put myself out there and be told, ‘no.’”

As Emma begins to search for a full-time position after graduation, she says she would have had a much more difficult time wrapping up her early-graduation year without EAW’s support. In total, Emma earned approximately $4,000 in tuition assistance. She says the  TA she earned during her short time with EAW was, “necessary,” for her to wrap up her college career.

“I really am grateful because the job gives me more experience and it’s something I can put on my resume,” Emma says. “Others can see that I have done some of these things and it shows others that I can be a fast learner and adjust to the job. I think staying with EAW, and getting enough time under my belt, and saying I can do these things is really necessary.”