Harry Weist has a lot of good things going for him. He’s engaged, he recently became a father, and he’s working toward earning his degree through Live Better U.
“I left college when the opportunity to work for Walmart came about. It was important to me, on a personal level, to finish my bachelor’s degree,” said Harry, who is currently an assistant manager over operations at Walmart #5179 in Orlando. “The Live Better U Education benefit has allowed me to juggle work, school, and family seamlessly.”
Harry was offered a job with Walmart in December 2017. At the time, he was a full-time student working to earn his RN in nursing. But with finals approaching on the 10th of the month, and Walmart training beginning on the 4th — he had a choice to make. After considering his goals and priorities, Harry accepted the job at Walmart — and completely re-routed his career path.
At the beginning of 2018, not long after starting his new job, Harry’s life took another unexpected turn. “My fiancé found out she had triple negative breast cancer, which is an extremely rare form of breast cancer,” Harry explained. “At the time she was only 28 years old, so that was pretty tough.”
Just two weeks after receiving this devastating diagnosis, Harry and his fiancé, Laura, received some more surprising news — Laura was pregnant. “It was very shocking to have both of those highs and lows come at you at the beginning of the year,” Harry said.
With a new job, an unexpected diagnosis, and a baby on the way, Harry and Laura had a lot to work through. And then, in the fall of 2018, Harry’s manager told him about Walmart’s education benefit, Live Better U, where associates can earn their college degree for just $1 a day — and Harry enrolled. “This degree is something I should've completed a long time ago,” Harry said. “Now with the help of Walmart and Guild Education, my goal will soon become my reality.”
After realizing nursing wasn’t for him, it wasn’t difficult for Harry to decide what career path he really wanted to pursue. Harry’s father had a career buying for wholesale grocers, and his family had worked in the grocery industry for many years. “It’s strange,” Harry reflected, “but I always knew I’d end up loving a career in that. When this opportunity arose, it took me about two minutes to decide I wanted to pursue marketing.”
