Key Takeaways:
- The University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) student Simona Thomas is earning her BA in Business Information Systems thanks to a partnership with her employer, Zurich North America.
- Simona is seeing the immediate benefits of her degree by using the skills she gains from her program in her current role.
- She takes care of her large family across generations, from her aging parents to her future grandchildren. She prioritizes these relationships, no matter how busy her life gets.
- For Simona, healthy living is just as important as family and takes precedence. Over 10 years of health-conscious choices led Simona to start her own fitness bootcamp, which she runs on Saturday mornings, to promote an active lifestyle and inspire others to make a change.
- She cites her family as her motivation in all pursuits, from education to fitness.
- After her son earned his master’s degree and became a teacher, Simona followed suit and started her bachelor’s degree program.
- Returning to school at the age of 48 was the perfect time for Simona, as she believes that students with more life experience can offer more to their instructors and peers.
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UAGC Student Simona Thomas Redefines What It Means to Live Simply
At Simona Thomas’ bootcamp, excuses do not last very long.
Between kettlebell swings, encouragement, and hard-earned laughs, Simona pushes her clients to show up for themselves in every way. The classes she built are about more than fitness. They are about accountability, confidence, and proving that growth does not stop once life gets busy.
That mindset extends far beyond the gym.
A mother of four, soon-to-be grandmother of six, and full-time underwriter associate for a major insurance company, Simona is also earning her degree at the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC), balancing assignments alongside work, family, and the fitness community she leads each week.
“Being a student again changed me,” Simona says. “It's evolving me as a person as a whole. It's connecting the dots for my job, my school, and my lifestyle, because while I'm learning about it, it's really happening in real time.”
For Simona, earning her degree in her late 40s goes beyond checking off a personal goal. It is another way she is investing in herself — professionally, personally, and for the generations watching her do it.
As a born-and-raised Texan, Simona has lived in Dallas her entire life. Her family is large and is growing still, with four sons and five grandchildren to run after, with a sixth on the way.
“I'm a Gigi. Not a Granny, not a Mimi, but a Gigi,” she says with a laugh, “because I'm too young to be either one of those.”
That energy carries into every part of Simona’s life. Between family responsibilities, work, school, and the fitness bootcamp she leads each week, slowing down has never really been her style.
Beyond her husband and children, she serves as a full-time caregiver to both her parents. With her father approaching his mid-80s and her mother in her mid-70s, Simona notes that tending to their needs while still working a full-time job and going to school remains a significant challenge. However, it provides the push she needs to pursue her education to maintain her own mental health, among other reasons.
“Why not just better yourself? It gives you something to do,” she says. “You won't have an idle mind just going in circles. You have something to occupy your time, and you'll feel better.”
Blending Work and School
As an underwriter associate for Zurich North America, Simona prepares policies and supporting materials for underwriters, a role she has held for more than three years. But she sees her current position as a starting point, not a finish line.
“I know a degree would make me more comfortable in my career and make me more confident,” she says.
The next step became possible through the company tuition assistance program, a concept that Simona wasn’t aware of before starting with Zurich, and one she takes advantage of for her UAGC education.
“Zurich is the reason I am actually going to school,” Simona explains. “I've never researched companies paying for your school until I came to Zurich, so I'm grateful to work for a company that actually pushes you and says, ‘we'll fund you to go to school.’”
At UAGC, Simona is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business information systems, a path that aligns closely with the technical side of the insurance industry where she hopes to grow. Her coursework is helping her build practical skills in areas like data organization, spreadsheets, and presentations, while exposure to cyber and tech underwriting at work is expanding her understanding of the field in real time.
“I'm able to blossom and keep blossoming in the same role, or go to another role,” she says.
And by scaffolding her career through her courseload, she’s able to blend her work and school into one seamless experience. Simona is applying her classroom skills into her job responsibilities daily, incorporating classroom administrative skills, such as spreadsheet optimization and PowerPoint creation.
“It comes full circle,” she says.
Exercising is Everything
Physical fitness is equally a priority in Simona’s life. Outside of professional and personal commitments, Simona works as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor, certified through the International Sports Science Association (ISSA).
“I was able to raise my four sons and also turn around and go back to school as a grandmother. That's amazing in itself.”
When she earned her certification and started her business in 2015, her motivation was her children and husband, whose active lifestyles ensured her upkeep. Simona’s friends also encouraged her to pick up physical fitness at the time.
While kids inspired this adventure, Simona did the work on her own. Since starting her journey, her bootcamp helped her lose 60 pounds, and she now coaches others to live a fit and healthy lifestyle. Simona hosts a boot camp class on the weekends called Simple Bootcamp, as an inclusive outlet for others to break a sweat.
“My whole slogan is ‘training made simple,’” she explains. “Anybody can get up and walk for a mile. Anybody can get up and lift a dumbbell. You don't even have to lift weights. You can pick up a gallon of water and take it up some stairs. That's your workout. It's just training made simple.”
Inspiration For Education
Like her workouts, that philosophy of simplicity carried over into her desire to go back to school. Simona held several certifications but had never ventured into college prior to UAGC.
“I went to a lot of trade schools,” Simona explains. “I went to cosmetology school, I went to CMA school, but you can only go so far with trade schools.”
Being around other adult learners ultimately inspired Simona to return to school — especially since one of those adult learners was her son. Her second oldest son recently earned his master’s degree, and she realized she could do the same.
“It was an epiphany when my son said he was going for his master’s,” Simona says with a laugh. “I said, ‘let me get a degree!’”
The discussion of returning to school with her husband was brief. He was immediately supportive.
“I have the best husband ever. He is my biggest supporter next to my sons,” Simona says. “He was like, ‘You, go to school? Are you sure you want to do this?’ I said, ‘yeah.’ He said, ‘okay, well, go.’”
Simona enjoys the flexibility of UAGC. She also appreciates the ease of communicating with her instructors directly. The helpful and knowledgeable nature of other university resources, such as the tutoring center, pushes students in the right direction, something Simona finds positive in her journey.
“It keeps me structured and on a straight path,” Simona says. “Even though some of us don’t like paths, sometimes they help us to figure out our life and what we're trying to accomplish at the same time.”
She especially enjoys using Turnitin, the program that helps with corrections and assignment quality. Simona just earned her first 100% on a final class grade, after seeing improvement in other academic areas from her efforts, such as basic algebra.
Growth Is Timeless
As Simona sees it, growth is not something reserved for one chapter of life. It is something you keep choosing.
Whether she is leading a bootcamp class, helping care for her parents, supporting her family or logging into coursework after a full day at work, Simona has built her life around staying active — mentally, physically, and personally. During her fitness sessions, she often reminds participants to keep moving even when they feel tired, encouraging them to push through one more set, one more lap, or one more round. It is advice that she follows herself.
“Being a student again changed me. It's evolving me as a person as a whole. It's connecting the dots for my job, my school and my lifestyle, because while I'm learning about it, it's really happening in real time.”
She believes the life experience she gained through raising a family, building a career, and caring for others gave her a stronger sense of purpose once she decided to pursue her degree.
After her projected January 2027 graduation, Simona hopes to continue growing professionally while making more time for the people who motivate her most. She looks forward to continuing her work with Zurich, expanding her opportunities in tech and cyber space, and spending time with her children and grandchildren.
“Just keep growing,” she says of her plans. “Just keep growing with my company, growing with my kids. And watch my grandkids grow up.”
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