First-generation PVAMU student graduates with 4.0
Raul Martinez is not your typical college student. He’s 26. He’s married. He works full-time. He’s a transfer student. But his eight-year journey to get a degree shows that he’s not only hardworking and intelligent, but he’s also got a grit that keeps him going. He graduates as part of the Class of Spring 2020, with a degree in political science and a perfect cumulative 4.0 GPA.
“Raul is, by far, one of the single best students we have ever had in the program,” said Michael Nojeim, Ph.D., associate professor and program coordinator for political science in PVAMU’s Marvin D. and June Samuel Brailsford College of Arts and Sciences. “He never misses class and participates in class discussions on a level equal to graduate or law students. I love his can-do approach.”
Martinez began taking classes at Lone Star Community College (LSCC), where he met Nathan Mitchell, Ph.D., an associate professor of political science at Prairie View, who also helms a course at Lone Star.
“I took his course online, and at the time, I didn’t even know what PVAMU was,” Martinez explained. “But he was so experienced, and he basically recruited me to Prairie View.”
Mitchell explained to Martinez about the options available in the political science department and also told him about scholarships available for transfer students. Then, Martinez visited the campus and was immediately sold.
“The professors in political science are great!” he said. “They are some of the greatest people I’ve ever met. They really pay attention to their students.”
When he took his first political science course, he liked the content. Then, in meeting Mitchell, he realized that the subject was something he could major in. He likes the connection to the world that political science has, and how it combines everything from history to the way people behave.
As a first-generation college student, Martinez admits there’s a lot he didn’t know. But he knew one thing: he wanted his degree, and he wasn’t willing to let anything get in the way of achieving that. He works at a flea market on the weekends and takes side jobs during the week, working on electronic systems in cars. He says he arranges his time so that he can devote a large portion of his day to his studies. His approach has paid off. Nojeim says Martinez is incredibly organized and systemic in his analysis. He’s also the kind of student who wants to help others, and Nojeim says that his classmates are drawn to his natural leadership.
“He shares generously,” Nojeim said. “Raul taught me more than I taught him. He taught me about having my points lined up sequentially, about being ready to respond to unexpected, but perceptive questions, about how to treat an individual in a group setting, and more. They broke the mold with this one, to be sure.”
The road to his degree hasn’t been easy. Just as he was settling into the routine of taking college courses, he got into a car accident, which completely upended his studies.
“There were five classes I had to retake,” he said. “So, it’s taken a long time for me to finish. But God willing, I’ll start law school this fall.”
He will enroll at South Texas College of Law in Houston, and he’s looking to be a personal injury attorney.
“I want to open my own office,” he said. “I don’t want to work 16 hours a day for someone else.”
Nojeim has no doubt he’ll succeed.
“He is ethical in all he does,” he said. “He leaves his mark of excellence on everything he touches.”
###
By Holly Beretto