UT San Antonio Fall 2025 Commencement ceremonies are Dec. 15. This story is one in a series about the university’s outstanding graduates.
When Ashley Escobar returned to UT San Antonio after years away from higher education, she knew she was ready for a fresh start.
What she didn’t expect was that she would be one of the first graduates of the newly established Career Compass program in the Carlos Alvarez College of Business and leave with a full-time role in human resources (HR) at UT San Antonio.
Career Compass is a comprehensive professional development program designed to provide business students with the knowledge, skills and experiences needed to be competitive in today’s job market.
As one of the first program participants, Escobar receives her degree in human resources management at Commencement ceremonies on Dec. 15.
While her path to get there wasn’t traditional, she’s living proof of what can happen when determination meets opportunity, and when a student finds their place within a university.
Connection, support, opportunity
Raised in the tight-knit community of Pearsall, Texas, Escobar imagined college would feel similarly structured and familiar. But when she enrolled at UT San Antonio in 2014, balancing full-time work and a new level of independence proved challenging.
“I had that high school mentality that your professor would remind you of assignments,” she said. “I skipped classes, procrastinated, worked full time and it caught up to me.”
Academic dismissal followed, and she stepped away from school.
The following years brought difficult choices and gradual clarity. Escobar completed an associates degree at Northwest Vista College and briefly attended Texas A&M University–San Antonio. But the environment wasn’t the right fit, she said.
What she wanted — connection, support and opportunity — was what she remembered from her time at UT San Antonio. In summer 2023, she wrote a reinstatement letter.
“The moment I got that email saying, ‘Welcome back,’ I cried,” Escobar said. She knew UT San Antonio was where she was supposed to finish her education.
Life at Target
A single Instagram post changed the trajectory of her entire path.
The college’s Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) student chapter advertised a “Day in the Life at Target,” an event highlighting operations at the retailer, and it happened to catch her eye.
Having the opportunity to tour the store’s back-of-house operations, watching real HR work like coaching, scheduling and people operations, instantly ignited a passion for Escobar, even though she was a marketing major at the time.
She switched her major to human resources management the very next week.
From that point forward, Escobar excelled. She joined SHRM and earned a leadership role as director of finance for the student organization. She represented the organization at workshops, networking events and the SHRM National Conference in San Diego, where she and her peers met national leaders in the field.
“It was surreal,” she said. “Seeing HR professionals from all over the world made everything feel possible.”
Escobar also helped lead her team to first place in the Texas SHRM Student Case Competition, outperforming teams from Texas A&M University, Texas State University and Tarleton State University.
“When they said UTSA won first place, we all looked at each other in awe,” Escobar said. “It was one of the best moments of my college career.”
Interviewing confidently
Escobar participated in workshops, etiquette dinners, resume-writing clinics, networking events and mock interviews.
“Career Compass is the reason I can walk into an interview confidently; it taught me how to sell myself,” she said.
Her dedication opened the door to a pivotal opportunity. While attending the national SHRM conference, the university’s HR department notified Escobar that it had pulled her application for a work-study role. Accepting the position required leaving a higher-paying job, but she trusted the experience would be worth it.
“If I wanted true HR experience, I had to take that risk,” she said.
The decision transformed her future. Working alongside university HR professionals, she gained hands-on experience and mentorship that strengthened her skills and confidence.
Recently, she was offered a full-time position with the university’s HR Department and will start her new job in early 2026.
She’s grateful for a second chance. “Now I get to start my career here — that means everything,” Escobar said.
Throughout her journey, Escobar found support from faculty mentors, including Heather Staples, associate dean for undergraduate studies and SHRM faculty advisor; Catalina Zarate, associate professor of practice in management, and Stephen Schwab, assistant professor of management.
The faculty members encouraged her to see her potential and think long term, she said. Escobar is now preparing to apply to the college’s master’s in business administration program while planning to pursue HR certification.
Escobar hopes her story shows future Roadrunners that success isn’t linear, and that resilience, community and involvement can redefine what’s possible.
“Get involved. Go to office hours. Don’t procrastinate,” she says. “And network — because the people you meet now could be the reason you land your dream job.”
