Small steps, big outcomes: Lorenzo Quiroz

by Valerie Figueroa

As dawn blooms in San Marcos, long before most students have hit the snooze button for the second time, Lorenzo Quiroz, an accounting junior at Texas State University's McCoy College of Business, is already on the move.

At 5 a.m., he's starting his day at Walmart, where he works part-time as a cashier and pick-up associate. By 10 a.m., he's back on the road, delivering mattresses and treadmills as a driver for Amazon. Four days a week, he works an average of 60 hours, not counting his classes, study sessions, and student organization meetings, which fill the rest of his time.

In the midst of his busy schedule, he still managed to win the McCoy College Suitable challenge in January 2025, in which students were encouraged to attend on-campus events and log them in the Suitable app to earn points and a chance to win the competition. Quiroz rose to the top of the leaderboard while also balancing a full-time workload and his academic obligations.

"It really tested my time management skills," Quiroz says, remembering that hectic month. "I told myself, if I can do one semester, why can't I do the rest of the semesters?"

Quiroz grew up in San Benito, a small town in the Rio Grande Valley. He graduated from high school in 2019 and enrolled at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), where he initially majored in mathematics. Then the world shut down.

"The pandemic happened and I decided to take a little bit of a hiatus," he says.

The pause stretched longer than he expected. As he worked long hours, he struggled with the decision to return to school because of the cost and time commitment. But when he moved to San Marcos and began working as an Amazon delivery driver, something changed. A co-worker told him about the company's tuition reimbursement program.

"So I took away one excuse," Quiroz says. "The only other excuse was that I didn't have enough time. And I had to really think to myself: ‘do I honestly not have time, or am I just being lazy?’"

Now left with no excuses, he applied to Texas State University.

A Fresh Start
Coming to Texas State was life-changing.

"That was one of the places that I thought was unattainable to go to because it was such a big city in my head, coming from a small town," Quiroz says. When he arrived, he found a like-minded community of ambitious students who mirrored his own aspirations.

"Everybody's a go-getter here," he says. "It's kind of like working on a team where everybody wants to do the work. It feels amazing to be here at Texas State."

He initially enrolled at McCoy College as a management major because of his experience as a Walmart team lead and uncertainties about which career to choose. During his first semester, though, he took an accounting course that resonated with him more than any management class had.

"I found myself really enjoying my accounting class way more than my business management classes," he says. "It's very daunting to hear the word accounting because people associate it with numbers, but it's more about organization, which is something I really like."

After that semester, he switched majors and never looked back.

Small Steps to Success
Quiroz's approach to school and life is centered on incremental growth. He says he looks at success as a series of steps.

When he returned to school, he immersed himself completely. Between his jobs, he began attending Suitable events at McCoy College, including workshops, leadership talks, and professional development sessions. Some days, he'd attend up to three events if he had the time.

He estimates he attended about 50 events in January of this year alone. One of them — a public speaking seminar — pushed him out of his comfort zone.

"That's one of my worst fears," he admits. But he says he's grateful for an opportunity to challenge himself.

He says he remembers how he and a friend battled for first place on the leaderboard.

"It was the last day of the month, and two things were happening at the same time," he says. "I figured out a way to attend both of them, and I think I beat him by like 20 points."

The rivalry blossomed into a friendship, and they are now both members of the university's Financial Management Association (FMA) chapter.

Finding Community
In FMA, Quiroz connected with an inspirational network of tomorrow's leaders.

"I felt such a connection to FMA because it felt very welcoming, like a brotherhood where everybody is there to get big in their future," he says. "Even though I'm not a finance major, I can still relate to everything that they're talking about, and I can really understand another side of the accounting world because accounting is the language of business, and finance is the backbone."

He ran for an officer position within the organization, but unfortunately wasn't selected.

"It is definitely a lesson learned to be more prepared," he says.

He also works alongside Kalie Newman, the chapter's chief marketing officer, as the organization's photographer.

"All the posts on social media are pretty much the photos I take," he says proudly of the professional-level photography he produces with his Canon T80.

He's also a member of the Dean's Leadership Academy, an invitation-only, highly selective program that prepares top juniors and seniors at McCoy College for global leadership. He says the program has opened new doors for him.

"I feel myself growing professionally," he says. "My mentor, Larry Mark, who is the former Global Vice President of Finance Operations at Coca-Cola, is retired, but he's given me a lot of great advice, and I couldn't have had his connection without the Dean's Leadership Academy."

Quiroz is also thrilled about an upcoming trip to India through the program, which costs virtually nothing for DLA students. He will have the opportunity to spend time in Hyderabad and New Delhi, including corporate visits, roundtable discussions with Indian entrepreneurs and executives, and excursions to historic landmarks, such as the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort.
 

From the Valley to the Big Four
Quiroz says that although his parents both have some college education, they never pressured him to return to school.

"It was almost like reverse psychology," he says. "They told me, 'If you don't want to go to college, you don't have to.' That made me want to go to college more because I wanted to show them what I could do."

He says that, despite the lack of pressure to attend college, his parents are his biggest supporters and are regularly in touch, even though they're hundreds of miles away.

Now, Quiroz has his sights set on KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms, the four largest professional services networks. After a networking event and a visit to their San Antonio office, he landed an internship interview.

"I'm really proud that I got the interview for KPMG," he says. “It's resulted from all the time I put in outside of school and work, applying for internships and going to network events.”

Even though he didn't get the internship, he's looking forward.

"Even though I didn’t receive the internship offer, I’m still extremely grateful and honored to have been considered by such a great organization, and I remain hopeful for future opportunities.”

Running Toward What's Next
For someone who spends the majority of his time working and studying, Quiroz finds balance on the road — literally. He's an endurance runner, training for his first marathon at the end of the year.

"I wake up really early on my school days, and I run like five miles," he says nonchalantly. "This morning, I did 10 miles before my class at 10 a.m."

He views running as a release, a form of movement that mirrors the persistence he brings to everything else. He's also volunteered to photograph the FMA intramural basketball games, squeezing them in on Wednesday evenings.

When asked what he's most proud of, Quiroz doesn't mention awards or grades. He goes back to the moment he filled out his application to Texas State. "That's the hardest part—to just start the process of going back to school," he says.

It's a simple statement, but one that reflects every part of his story. From San Benito to San Marcos, from hiatus to Dean's List, from long delivery routes to late-night study sessions, Quiroz's journey is less about where he's going and more about how he's getting there.

Every morning begins the same way for Quiroz: bright and early, and eager to get the most out of his day.

For Lorenzo Quiroz, that's how success is built. ✯