Ashley Martinez

Throughout my life, I had a supportive and privileged upbringing. My mom supported my private education since preschool. During high school, I decided that I wanted to be a doctor. After graduating from St. Lucy’s Priory High School, I was supposed to attend Azusa Pacific University. After applying to APU the first time in 2018, I received a scholarship, but chose to wait last minute to learn that I couldn’t afford APU; the expected loans and scholarship wasn’t enough. In that first week of school, I took a leave of absence and went to Citrus College. I am a Biology major and got most of my undergraduate courses done over there. When it was time to go back, I didn’t follow through with APU and went back to Citrus College again. In the process, I lost my good scholarship. In these past 2 years, I have struggled with wanting to give up and quit school when it became hard. I never gave myself any chances to change, nor do I ever give myself opportunities, to step outside the box, to own who I could be. Despite hardships, I am capable of good grades. Currently, I have a 3.89 GPA and my educational goal is to transfer out of community college. I really do enjoy learning and don’t want to stop, even if I can’t afford a higher education.