4/30/2018
Cooper Corley (‘18), from Dallas, Georgia, graduated from Cumberland University on May 5 with a bachelor’s degree in business management, and you will likely see him rise to the top of his career in record time. He has already landed a highly competitive job at Thyssenkrupp Elevator, an urban engineering company with offices around the world. He is among 21 people across the nation to be selected for the company’s Operations Development program (TOPS). As part of the TOPS program, Cooper will travel across the country to learn about the company’s main departments: Modernization, Service, and Construction. Having an internship with Premier Elevator certainly helped prepare him for this coveted role.
Another experience that helped prepare Cooper for his position at Thyssenkrupp Elevator is owning a business during high school. He was mowing lawns to make money and quickly acquired more work than he could handle. “It just so happened that one of my best friends had a better lawn mower than I did, and my trimmer was a lot stronger than his. We decided to both take on all the yards that we have and split everything 50-50.” Cooper eventually gave his part of the company to his partner in order to begin his education at Cumberland, where he could focus on his future.
Cooper also possesses something that will be integral to his success — a work ethic instilled in him by working on the farm with his dad and grandfather. His time spent as an offensive lineman on the CU Phoenix football team also helped. “The mix between the competitiveness, discipline, and amount of work needed to be the best I could be in sports and the quality of work demanded on the farm translates to the work that I do.”
“My time at CU has allowed me to grow and develop into the person I am today. Professors have given me the tools and knowledge that helped me understand what I needed to know; what I needed to do to get where I wanted to go. This was making me feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations, understanding what path/internship I needed to take to prepare for and opportunity like this, and finding a career that fits my personality and strengths.”