USD Magazine Fall 2005

the little girls came and held my hand, and said, ‘Take me in your car.’” She pauses, collecting her- self. “I couldn’t think of any words to make her understand. But I just wanted to cry so bad.” While that experience rein- forced Gonzalez’ determination to teach, in some ways it’s made her rethink her goals. “Before, money wasn’t an issue,” she says. “I mean, I still want to teach. But I want to make sure that my income is enough to help my dad out. I have two little brothers and I really want them to go to college. I want them to experi- ence what I did.” Not that her college experi- ence — at least thus far — includes much carousing. “Actually, I still ask my parents before I go out,” she confesses with a laugh. T here’s no limit to the nailed a 3.8 GPA his first semes- ter, he took it as incentive to aim higher. When he wanted to get involved on campus, he ran for — and was elected as — one of two Associated Students fresh- man senators. To win that position, he had to do some legwork. “I went around to all of the freshmen residential areas and introduced myself to pretty much the whole freshman class,” he recalls. “It took a lot of time, but it was a lot of fun. The best part of the whole job is how many people I’ve gotten to know.” While his decision to run was off- the-cuff, it’s sparked an abiding interest in campus politics. heights Marco Martinez intends to reach. When he

thought she might be in the wrong class. After all, having grown up in the village of Ahualulco, in Jalisco, Mexico, “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” didn’t exactly resonate. But now she’s comfortable, not just with American pop culture, but with putting herself out there. “I didn’t like participating,” she recalls. “I was too shy to raise my hand. Now, well, I know I have to.” And finally getting a hard-won ‘A’ in one class helped increase her self-confidence: “Sometimes you think you’re putting out an effort, but you really have to do more.” One experience that stood out during her freshman year was a visit to a Tijuana orphanage. “We played, read and told stories,” she recalls. “Then we ate lunch and then it was time to leave. One of

MARCO MARTINEZ

campaigning, I learned not just their names, but who they were, regardless of whether they were voting for me or not.” And in the future? “Politics are a definite possibility. It’s a definite way to make a difference in soci- ety.” As far as fun goes, Martinez knows he’ll find it wherever he goes. If not, he’ll just make his own. Of course, his idea of fun is hardly bacchanalian. “I have to work out or play a sport every day,” he confesses, almost sheepish. “Otherwise, I can’t go to sleep at night.” There’s a vice that even a politician could take pride in. Go to www.sandiego.edu/usdmag for exclusiveWeb content related to this story.

“I decided to go for secretary of student organizations,” he says, flashing a grin. “I’ll be work- ing with the organizations around campus, to get them together to do events.” Martinez’ sunny disposition hasn’t dampened a bit in the past year. He loved living in a triple in Maher Hall (“The best part is getting to know all the people on my floor”), but he’s just as excited at the prospect of sharing a house with four friends in Pacific Beach this semester (“great guys”) and with the possi- bility of learning to surf. But it’s his newfound love for politics that’s made the biggest impact on Martinez. “One quality I developed last year was learn- ing people’s names. Through

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