Graduate Spotlight: Martha Gutierrez

Martha Gutierrez enrolled in Capital IDEA in the spring of 2000. Since then, she has had ample reasons to abandon her education, but regardless of the obstacles she faced, Martha stayed true to her purpose and in May 2008 she realized her long time dream of becoming a Registered Nurse.

Martha was born in Chihuahua, Mexico - one of nine children. She made it through her first year of high school before having to drop out to go to work. At 18 Martha moved to the United States and found employment as a nanny for families with small children. The language barrier was very frustrating and Martha began to feel an acute need to learn English. After twelve years of struggling with English on her own, Martha heard about Capital IDEA. Excited about the opportunity, Martha enrolled the following semester in a GED/ESL pilot project held at Austin Academy.

Over the next five years Martha made amazing progress. She finished her GED/ESL coursework and passed all five GED exams. She completed a semester of the College Prep Academy, which enabled her to pass her college entrance exams. She then took four semesters of introductory course work, earning an amazing 3.8 GPA, and was accepted into nursing school. Along the way she also had her third and fourth child.

In the first eight weeks of the nursing program, things started to take a downward turn. The coursework was more difficult than she had anticipated, and family pressures made it hard for Martha to apply herself. When her grades began to drop she reluctantly decided to withdraw. “I could feel I wasn’t ready for the midterms, and my confidence was suffering.”

Determined to do better, Martha reenrolled the following year and committed herself to an exhausting study schedule. Every Saturday and Sunday for the next two years, Martha was in the library studying from open to close. If the library wasn’t open, Martha studied in her car. “I had to be away from the house. I couldn’t study if it wasn’t quiet.” During the week Martha managed all the cooking and cleaning for her family and got in an additional three to four hours of studying after everyone had gone to bed.

On the day of this interview Martha was waiting for her oldest child, Roman, to finish the math portion of his college entrance exam. “It was really hard on him and his sisters for me to spend so much time studying. They’d asked me all the time, when I’d be done. They missed me, but I know they’re proud of me”.

Roman learned a lot from his mother about hard work and the importance of applying himself to his schooling. This June, just two weeks after Martha graduated with her Associates Degree in Nursing, Roman graduated from high school in the top tenth percentile. He and his mother attended each other’s graduations, cheering each other across the stage. Martha nearly bursts with pride as she recounts her son’s words, “At his graduation he told me ‘I promise I’m going to get a degree, and I’m going to do it for you!’”

Spring 2008 Capital IDEA Graduates

Patty Abraham, Health Care - RN
Enedina Angulo, Health Care - LVN
Krickett Avalon, Health Care - RN
Tracy Bess, Health Care - RN
Patricia Cella, Health Care - RN
Tianna Clark, Accounting Technician
Julie De La Haye, Health Care - RN
Ana Flores, Health Care - LVN
Lindsey Griffin, Health Care - RN
Martha Gutierrez, Health Care - RN
Leticia Hernandez, Network Administrator
Myoung Sook Kim, Accounting Technician
Terri Latimer, Health Care - RN
Maria Longoria, Dental Hygienest
Paul Maicah, Electronic Tech
Brenda Marquez, Health Care - LVN
Theresa Mccoy, Health Care - RN
Orquidea Mena, Health Care - RN
Lily Molina, Dental Hygienest
Peter Muthua, Health Care - LVN
Michel Ngakoue, Health Care - LVN
Sarah Noah, Health Care - RN
Catherine Odanga, Health Care - LVN
Hadiza Oumarou, Health Care - LVN
Valarie Perez, Network Administrator
Stephanie Pryor, Health Care - RN
Dania Rodriguez, Accounting Technician
Anna Rodriguez, Computer Aided Design
Natascha Schwenke, Health Care - LVN
Nicole Sims, Health Care - RN
Marie Sohn, Health Care - RN
Kaela Tambling, Health Care - RN
Rebekah Thomas, Network Administrator
Dung Trinh, Health Care - RN
Han Truong, Accounting Technician
Janet Van Brackle, Health Care - RN
Alejandro Vega Blanco, Network Administrator
Yanhong Wang, Dental Hygienest
Joan Wilson, Health Care - LVN