Samantha Stewart – St. Louis, MO

The Power in Learning on Display

Samantha Stewart is a 12-year Walmart associate who proves the power in always learning.

The store lead at Store 5313 in Lake Saint Louis, Missouri, has a history of working with, and learning from, the Walmart Academy. She says that each new opportunity to learn presents another chance to get even better at her job and improve the experience of associates at her store.

That’s good news, especially for Samantha. Why? Because she’s had the chance to work with the Academy and attend twice – once on her way to becoming an assistant manager and a second time on her way to becoming the store lead.

“When I first went to Academy training, it was an assistant manager,” Samantha said. “And that training helped me to really understand and leverage the difference in my prior position and the requirements of managing.”

But before she attended her first Academy training, Samantha worked at an Academy Store in Saint Charles, Missouri. During her time at Store 1161, she was able to see the value of Academy training directly.

“That was one well-run store,” Samantha said, laughing.

Her most recent experience at Academy came as she was training to manage her own store. Samantha said that having experiences with the Academy from so many angles has been invaluable.

“Seeing the Academy work, then training and teaching associates, has been so valuable! I have a baseline to apply in my store through One Best Way, and every time I’ve been through Academy has been so level-setting. I always leave having learned something new,” Samantha said.

The Academy veteran is a great example of the value of learning, and then learning again. With every opportunity and experience in Academy, Samantha has had the chance to learn – and to add value – to each store she’s been a part of.