Farmersville grad, a Horatio Alger scholar, sees mother and sister as biggest role models
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For Anasol Martínez-García, a Farmersville High School Horatio Alger scholarship recipient, her mother and her sister are her biggest role models.
Her family went through hard times when Martínez-García was growing up because of domestic violence, she said.
“It was hard for us and my mom. As strong as she was, she pulled us through,” Martínez-García said of her immigrant mother from the state of Michoacán, México, who works at a meat-packing plant in the Valley. “She’s the strongest woman I know. Gave us opportunities and made us stronger.”
“My older sister too, she’s a very big part of my life,” said Martínez-García, who plans to go into nursing and become a sports psychologist as she pursues a higher education this fall.
“I feel very proud of her because she is the first to receive a scholarship like this,” said Irma García of her daughter, who is the third of five children.
Martínez-García, who has a 4.0 GPA, is getting a $10,000 scholarship as an Horatio Alger scholar. The funds will be distributed throughout the four years of college.
“I’m so proud of her because she’s so conscientious and hard-working and she always has been,” said Lisa Preheim, business teacher and AVID site coordinator of Martínez-García.
“She wrote thoughtful and reflective essays, and they noticed that you know, rewarded her, and recognized her,” Preheim said. “She’s very deserving. She’s a good student. She’s a good person. She’s supportive, she’s a tutor in the avid program and supports the younger students.”
Martínez-García plans to attend College of the Sequoias in Visalia to work on her associate’s degree in nursing and then transfer to Fresno State for a bachelor’s in nursing.
After completing her bachelors, she plans on going to Long Beach State for her masters in sports psychology.
Going into nursing, Martínez-García said, will allow her to help “as many people as I can.”
Martínez-García, who speaks Spanish and English, said she wants to become a sport psychologist because when she was younger, she played soccer and dealt with a lot of pressure from coaches and felt it affected her mental health during that time.
“I can help other athletes who don’t have access to reach out. And I just feel like that would be the best way because I understand them, and I could help them become better athletes, so they don’t have to quit their sport and continue performing the best they can,” she said.
Since seventh grade, Martínez-García has been in the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program – an in-school academic support program for grades seventh through twelfth that prepares students for college eligibility and success.
While she applied to four universities in the CSU system – Long Beach, Fresno State, Sacramento, and San Francisco – Martínez-García decided to stay closer to home to help her family.
Martínez-García said her high school chapter is ending but she is excited for the new chapter that is opening as a college student.
“I’m ready to start,” she said.
Ojo: The number of Latinas with an advanced degree, as of 2021, was 1.37 million, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. The total for Latino males was 1.08 million.
This story was originally published June 5, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
