Finance major Maria Angelica Cabiles put her foot in the door of a future career in accounting using Wichita State University’s Cooperative Education and Work-Based Learning program.

Cabiles was born in the Philippines before her family moved to the United States and settled in Wichita. Her parents gave up promising careers as doctors so their two daughters could have a better education.

Cabiles has made it her goal to be successful for her parents, she said.

During her freshman year, she heard about cooperative education and how it helped students find careers. She liked the idea of getting work experience alongside college credit.

“That’s where I began my job search,” she said.

Cooperative education coordinator Sara Muzzy worked with Cabiles to revamp her resume and improve her networking opportunities.

As a sophomore, Cabiles found a job with Amerimerc, a company that sells lifestyle products such as swimming pools and hot tubs, and she has “stuck with it ever since.”

At Amerimerc, she works in accounts receivable and accounts payable, closing out money, posting invoices and paying bills and taxes.

“She is reliable, dependable, organized and has a willingness to learn,” said her supervisor, Stephanie Friesen.

Friesen also praised WSU’s cooperative education program.

“(It’s) a great opportunity for students to gain real-world, hands-on experience in their field,” she said.

Cabiles applies what she has learned at WSU to real-world situations, such as paying taxes, dealing with accounts and businesses, and predicting different outcomes for companies’ books.

“Getting textbook knowledge from class and applying it to what I do at work makes the knowledge go full circle,” she said.

She graduated last fall with her bachelor’s in accounting and plans to graduate spring 2011 with her finance degree.

After taking the Certified Public Accountant exam, she plans to enter the workforce. And, in five years, she hopes to have her master’s in accounting.

“Accounting and finance together will help me out as a CPA, which is what I want to do as a career,” she said.

Cabiles wants to work for a large CPA firm in Wichita.

“Wichita is the center of all career opportunities for me,” she said, “(a plus that) you can’t find in other college towns.”

WSU students have an advantage over students from Kansas State University and the University of Kansas because they live in a city where big accounting firms are, she said.

Plus, she said WSU’s W. Frank Barton School of Business is “really high caliber,” and the professors do “a wonderful job of explaining complex accounting equations.”

As a CPA, Cabiles said she’ll have job security and the ability to build good, lasting relationships with her clients.