Amazing, what hard work and internships can help achieve

Angela Grubbs, a North High School graduate, will head to college in August with aspirations for a business career.

She already knows more about hard work and diligence than a lot of six-figure executives I know.

She's a good student who participated in extracurricular activities while working as many as 25 hours a week. She's overcome much to achieve admission to Clark Atlanta University in Georgia.

"I worked two jobs at the Mall of America last school year," Grubbs said. "I've also worked as an intern at Wells Fargo Bank, and this is my second summer as an intern at Ameriprise Financial. You can meet a lot of people in business, and work comes naturally to me.

"I like technology and learning. And I don't need a lot of downtime."

Evidently.

Grubbs, 18, lives with her stepfather and brother. Her father has been incarcerated most of her life. Her mother has wrestled with drug addiction. She lived in foster care for several years.

"They are smart people ... but one day I want my kids to have a normal life. And I just always knew I was going to college. Major in business. Minor in music."

Fatima Muhammad, another North High graduate, runs the Minneapolis YMCA's Black Achievers Program and has been a mentor to Grubbs.

"She worked two jobs last year to help support herself and her younger brother," Muhammad said. "She is financially responsible. Angela is just a very mature, bright and resilient young woman."

Grubbs was placed with Ameriprise through the Step-up internship program offered by area businesses to several hundred Minneapolis students. It's a great program, run by Achieve Minneapolis, the support organization for the schools. And there were more applicants than jobs. Last summer she worked in the operations center. This year it's brokerage and managed products.

"I like Ameriprise," Grubbs said. "I try to meet someone new every day. I've met lots of people who started in 'this' job and now they are in 'that' job. You can grow your career here. I could end up here after college."

"Last summer, Angela worked in an operations job that supports the business and this summer she's getting more exposure to the finance function and an actual business," McCants said. "She's interested in finance. And she definitely has the desire for a career in business. We're excited to have her."

Grubbs was a strong "B" student and her favorite subject was math. She also was a yearbook editor and a member of the student board.

One of her greatest high school memories was attending a YMCA Teen Summit in Chicago with Muhammad and some other Minneapolis kids.

"We got to go out to dinner and see the city," Grubbs said. "And there were sessions about college, cultural issues, teen pregnancy, employment seminars, networking."

You might call it her first business trip.

"She really deserved to have something given to her," Muhammad said.

Grubbs settled on Clark, a small university with a great reputation for academics, on the advice of a friend, Ireja Brady, another Minneapolis Step-up intern who attends the Atlanta university.

Thanks to a generous scholarship Grubbs has earned, she won't have to work as many hours as she did in high school. But that doesn't mean she won't be busy.

"In addition to studies, I plan to be in the 'Young Life' program at Clark, and they connect with high school kids," she said.

She's planning on investing time in some other kids who may need a mentor.