Student Success: Jacob Castle

Student Success: Jacob Castle From part-time to full-time, Jacob Castle has certainly gotten the full experience of everything Education at Work has to offer. “I’m the first in my family to go to a four-year college, my program was four and a half years,” Jacob says. “It just flew by. But once I finally graduated, it felt like a huge relief. Like all that hard work paying off.” Jacob, who graduated in December 2020 from Northern Kentucky University, started working full-time with Education at Work shortly after the new year. Jacob currently has a position in Corporate Communications and works as Education at Work’s Graphic Designer. Jacob earned his bachelor’s of fine arts in visual communication design from NKU, working for Education at Work for the past two years as a part-time graphic designer. Jacob has contributed several designs for EAW’s internal flyers and announcements, presentations, social media posts, and more. He says he’s earned more than $13,000 in tuition assistance during his time with Education at Work, in addition to hourly wages, which helped him complete his degree with almost no student debt. “That’s one thing I love about Education at Work,” Jacob says. “How they work with me around my classes, then in the summer I can pick up more hours to help pay for school.” Thanks to a referral from a friend, Jacob found a position at Education at Work as a sophomore in college, and was able to gain work experience for his field while also contributing to the organization. With every job, responsibilities will shift once part-time status changes to full-time. That was Jacob’s experience, in which his responsibilities from graphic designer shifted to include corporate communications and other marketing responsibilities. “As a full-time designer on staff, I have a lot more time, and I can take on more projects every week,” Jacob says. “My role has evolved into more of a leadership role where I can tackle projects I could not have before.” Jacob also copy-edits material for corporate-level communications. “At the time, I was just looking for more experience as a designer, I was looking for people with more experience to kind of guide me and teach me more about workflow. Plus, I think working with a larger team with a bunch of different departments helps me develop as a designer more. I’ve actually recommended a lot of friends here.” Jacob says he’s, “happy to finally have a full-time design career where I get to contribute to a great mission, while having stability to get my adult life started.” Jacob’s design portfolio is available at jacobcastle.com.

Student Success: Nicholas Acciardo

Student Success: Nicholas Acciardo Newly graduated Nicholas Acciardo III has plans for his future – and he says he’s gained the skills he needs for his future thanks to his experience at Education at Work. “School and EAW worked hand-in-hand for me.” Newly graduated Nicholas Acciardo III has plans for his future – and he says he’s gained the skills he needs for his future thanks to his experience at Education at Work. Nicholas, who earned his degree in May 2020 from Arizona State University, has worked for Education at Work for since July 2019. He credited Education at Work, in part, for his completion of his bachelor’s in Earth and Environmental Studies due to not having any student debt by the end of his senior year. “My last semester, I didn’t owe anything,” Nicholas says. “I actually got a refund from ASU because my scholarships, along with Education at Work’s tuition assistance, actually covered semester costs, so I got a check back from ASU, which was really nice.” While he didn’t work directly with studying climate change or earth systems under Education at Work’s programs, Nicholas says he still gained important experiences working part-time while attending school. “They worked hand-in-hand because my major map and my school schedule were set, because my major is kind of small, so I had to take these specific classes at these specific times, and there’s no alternative,” Nicholas says. “So, being able to have the flexibility in my work schedule to meet my class schedule needs was imperative. I wasn’t sure what else I’d be able to do in a situation like that.” But Education at Work didn’t just have an impact on Nicholas. In fact, Nicholas had an impact on Education at Work. While working for a U.S.-based financial services company, Nicholas was responsible for account management, customer service interaction, maintaining an organized workflow throughout the day, and meeting high key performance indicator goals. This resulted in high productivity, and earned Nicholas recognition from his leadership team. “Earning the experience of working for an organization like this,” Nicholas says, “it was crazy going into this big office with lots of people and a really defined structure, and learning to navigate that way. It gave me a good experience to see what an office job is like, the organization behind it, and how people work every day in that fit schedule.” Nicholas says he earned a number of skills that he can carry with him into his career path – a path that is now an arm’s length away given his completion of his degree. Organization skills, taking initiative, navigating an office environment and professional communication are only a few of the skills Nicholas can carry on with him. “I learned how to navigate having specific meetings, how to work closer to supervisors, how to keep stats in line, and I think everything has been beneficial,” Nicholas says. With the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality on his radar for future employment in his career path, Nicholas says his experience with Education at Work is part of the reason he can look forward to pursuing his career with less student debt once the pandemic subsides. “I think Education at Work gave me a really good experience as to better manage my time and money, because going between school and work and home, I was always occupied,” Nicholas says. “It’s great experience in the future once you have a more stable career. Because once you learn how to manage it the first time, later in life it won’t be as difficult.” Nicholas’ dream job is to work for the California Academy of Sciences.

Student Success: Kaleb Keown

Student Success: Kaleb Keown Kaleb Keown is a first-generation student who graduated debt-free from Arizona State University in May of 2019. Kaleb Keown is a first-generation student who graduated from Arizona State University in May of 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Kaleb worked at Education at Work for more than a year and accepted a full-time position in April 2020 with the same financial service company he worked with while employed at Education at Work.   Kaleb quickly grew his skills at Education at Work, earning a promotion as a Senior Agent while he was an undergraduate student. Once he graduated with his bachelor’s degree, Kaleb was promoted to a Student Supervisor role.   “My overall experience at Education at Work is nothing short of amazing,” says Kaleb. “I had virtually no professional work experience going into Education at Work, and I walked out with a resume worth of amazing experience.”   When he first joined the Education at Work team, he wasn’t sure what to expect. He says he was seeking professional experience but was also met with a fun and exciting crowd of people that supported him through his journey.  “The people around you make the biggest difference, especially people with different educational backgrounds,” says Kaleb. “You’re networking every single day you’re in there, let alone just making great friends and having a good time.” After making connections with his peers, Kaleb found that the most valuable skill he learned was how to be an effective leader for his team. Kaleb says his time at Education at Work prepared him to help lead people to help them succeed.  After working for Education at Work for just under two years, Kaleb earned more than $5,600 in tuition assistance. He says that without the tuition assistance he earned he wouldn’t have been able to graduate debt free.