Serving success: Starbucks celebrates ASU graduates at special forum
A Starbucks partner leads the group of ASU graduates from the Starbucks forum at the Omni Tempe Hotel at ASU to Mountain America Stadium for undergraduate commencement Monday afternoon. The students graduated via the Starbucks College Achievement Plan. Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
For many, the journey to earning a degree is a deeply personal dream.
For Starbucks partners graduating from Arizona State University this semester, it’s also a powerful story of resilience, opportunity and community. Graduates have balanced work, school and life to achieve a milestone that seemed, at times, out of reach.
With more than 1,000 Starbucks partners graduating from ASU this December through the Starbucks College Achievement Plan, a celebration on Monday hosted graduating partners, colleagues, friends and family of those graduating.
As is tradition, the Starbucks event kicked off with a coffee moment led by 17-year Texas store manager Alyssa Munoz Crumpley, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies, and 19-year Virginia store manager Dale Hood, graduating with a degree in leadership and management.
Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol, who joined Starbucks in September, addressed graduating partners, their families and other Starbucks partners who came in support.
“Through industry-leading programs and benefits like the Starbucks College Achievement Plan, we’re making Starbucks the unrivaled best job in retail,” Niccol said. “We’re incredibly proud of our partner graduates and the opportunities Starbucks provides everyone who wears the green apron to build the life, career and family they want.”
Established in 2014, the Starbucks College Achievement Plan provides 100% up-front tuition coverage for eligible U.S. partners — the company's term for its employees — to earn their bachelor’s degree through ASU Online, and nearly 90% of Starbucks stores in the U.S. have at least one partner in the program, with more than 25,000 participants and more than 15,000 graduates since the program’s inception.
Companies that envision equitable educational opportunities and align with the university charter are at the heart of successful partnerships with ASU.
“There are 40 million people in the United States that went to college and didn’t finish,” ASU President Michael Crow said at Monday's Starbucks events. “Ten years ago, we started this project with Starbucks. Starbucks was interested in you, the person working for them, and they asked, 'How do we help people finish college?' So we designed a program built around our faculty with unbelievable learning tools.”
After high school, Jared Hart, now a 10-year partner from Washington, D.C., enrolled in community college. With no clear idea of what he wanted to do, the college advised him to take time off to figure it out.
Starbucks gave him the path he needed to succeed, stepping up from barista to shift supervisor.
“I learned how to coach, I learned how to teach, I learned how to grow,” he said. “With support from my parents, I did go back to school through the Starbucks College Achievement Plan.”
The biological sciences major was able to thrive with the support of his peers, his store and the support systems that ASU provided.
“What I’ve learned from Starbucks, in my role with many hats, I get to add a graduation hat.”
Others shared how the Starbucks program helped them find their true calling.
Eleni Munoz from Jarrell, Texas, tried college, but the financial pressure was too much. Determined to complete her degree, at one point she worked three jobs.
Starbucks and ASU gave her the second chance she needed.
“It means that I will be able to grow, succeed and provide for my family and give back for all the support that they gave me,” she said.
The organizational leadership (project management) graduate also used the newfound opportunity and enrolled in the ASU Global Career Accelerator, pursuing the data analytics track.
“It was a really cool experience that I think everyone should do,” Munoz said. “They don’t treat you as if you have experience. They start you from ground zero, and they train you so you can succeed in the workforce and use these skills that different companies and corporations are looking for.”
Monday's event was also marked with stories of loss, in which the moment of success was in honor of those they loved the most.
Payal Sharma’s mother was diagnosed with cancer while Sharma was attending a university in California. She decided she needed to stay home to help care for her mom, who would ultimately die from the disease.
“I was at work and saw the poster for ASU Online,” Sharma said. “I talked to my manager at Starbucks, and he said, 'Whatever you need to do to be a caretaker for your mom, we’ll work with your schedule. ASU Online is all asynchronous. It will work perfectly. We’ll take care of you.'”
Sharma, who double-majored in communication and family and human development, credited her success to her advisors and the faculty and staff at the university who supported her.
Celebrating graduation Monday with her father and sisters, she said the moment was bittersweet.
“When I was a caretaker for my mom, she had an amazing therapist (who) really guided her through the entire situation,” she said. “That field really spoke to me. I talked to my advisor and asked if this is something I could go into with these majors and he said definitely.”
The SCAP program was the launchpad for Sharma, who is looking forward to a graduate program.
“With everything that happened with our family, it was a wake-up call. This is something we need to focus on,” she said. “It made me passionate about the field, to where I can support people who are going through similar things to me and acknowledge their feelings and allow a space for vulnerability within our community.”
As these graduates don green-lined graduation stoles, they embody the spirit of what’s possible when opportunity meets determination. Crow, a first-generation college graduate, reminded them Monday that with this success comes responsibility.
“What you need to do is you need to remember that you made the leap,” Crow said. “You got through the system. What are you going to do with that? What you need to do is fight for a better future for everyone. Work hard, advance your family and fight for something other than yourself.”
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