Before the Degree, Before the CPA: How Apprenticeships Help Students Believe They Belong

“Without YUPRO Placement, I wouldn’t be where I am right now doing the work I love doing.”

For National Apprenticeship Week, we are talking with several current and former apprentices about how these programs shaped their careers—and throughout the week, we will be sharing their stories.

For many students, the biggest barrier to starting a career is not intelligence, motivation, or even technical ability. It is the feeling that they do not belong.

Before they earn the degree, pass their exams, and land full-time jobs, many students wonder whether they are really capable of succeeding in professional environments both online and in-office.

For Marcelo de Leon, that feeling changed when he entered an apprenticeship through YUPRO Placement.

At the time, Marcelo was working in a hospital and trying to figure out what came next. He knew he wanted something different, but he was not sure what that future looked like.

“I was kind of lost,” Marcelo says. “I didn’t know what I was going to do. I was working at the hospital during that time… and it was really depressing working there. I was like, ‘I’ve got to find something else.’”

Then he came across an apprenticeship opportunity through YUPRO Placement, in partnership with Franklin University, Accenture, and CLS. The program combined paid work experience, college coursework, and preparation toward becoming CPA-ready.

At first, Marcelo did not believe it was real. “I thought it was a scam,” he says with a laugh. “It was too good to be true. We’re going to pay you. We’re going to teach you. We’re going to do everything for you—you just have to show up.”

But once he began, he found something much more valuable than a line on a resume: he found confidence.

The year-long apprenticeship placed Marcelo in two different teams at Accenture—deal structuring and pricing, and client finance management—giving him a chance to experience what work in accounting and finance actually looks like. For six months at a time, he rotated through the teams, learning not only how the work was done, but how different departments collaborated inside a large organization.

Just as important, he discovered that the work itself was not as intimidating as he had imagined.

“It showed us that we can actually do this,” Marcelo says. “Even though you’re studying for accounting and your CPA, the job itself isn’t really difficult. You just have to practice a couple times and then you kind of get it.”

That realization changed the way he saw himself. “It gave me the confidence like, ‘I can do this’,” he says. “That’s something people really don’t get.”

Today, Marcelo is a full-time student at the University of Texas at Arlington, studying accounting and working toward that CPA. But now, when he sits in class, he approaches his coursework differently.

“The stress that comes with doing classes usually—it’s just not there for me,” he says. “Because I know how it’s going to go. I know how it’s going to be.”

Marcelo says the apprenticeship helped him connect what he was learning in class to the real world. Before the program, accounting concepts felt abstract. After spending time in an office environment, he understood how those ideas translated into actual work.

“I can do the job,” he says. “Even without the study material, I’m capable of doing the job and I can do it right. And now that I know more, it’s going to be even easier.”

That confidence has followed him back into the classroom and into conversations with his classmates.

Many of Marcelo’s peers have never had an internship or worked in an office. He sees them doubting themselves the same way he once did. “A lot of my classmates are easily intimidated,” he says. “I just tell them: apply. The job is most likely being exaggerated. You not only know the theory already, but almost all of you have the soft skills needed to learn the job.”

For Marcelo, those soft skills are often what matter most.

He defines soft skills simply: communication, responsiveness, and the willingness to ask questions.

“To me, someone with good soft skills would be someone who gets right on it, sends the email right after the meeting, or is able to message their manager and isn’t scared to communicate,” he says.

That willingness to speak up became one of the most important lessons he learned through YUPRO Placement.

“Something they always told us at YUPRO was: don’t suffer in silence,” Marcelo says. “When you get to these jobs, especially with no experience, it builds up that Imposter Syndrome. Like, I should not be here. I should go home.”

Instead, Marcelo learned to ask questions, build relationships, and lean on the people around him. He still keeps in touch with many of the people he worked with during the apprenticeship, and he encourages other students to do the same.

“There’s a lot of people who are willing to help you and talk to you,” he says. “Don’t suffer in silence.”

Marcelo still has about a year and a half left before he graduates and begins pursuing his goal of working in auditing for local, state, or national government. But he already knows something many students do not discover until much later: He belongs.

That may be the most powerful thing an apprenticeship can provide not only experience, but the confidence to see yourself in the future you are working toward.