Migrant student looking to the stars, planning Mars landing

When Marleen Martinez of Warden attended Space Camp on a Migrant Education scholarship as a 14-year-old in 1997, she returned with a dream to someday become an astronaut.

“For as long as I can remember, I‘ve been fascinated by anything related to space, stars and astronomy,” she says. “Ever since my dad first took me out to the back yard to show me the shooting stars, I was hooked! I would sit on the roof and try counting as many stars as possible.”

With the help of local educators and the Upward Bound program, Marleen prepared for college and ultimately won a scholarship from NASA (the National Aeronautic and Space Administration). Since then she has made successful step after successful step toward that dream and now seems to have a realistic shot at her goal of “becoming the first person to walk on Mars.”

She has graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering, and she is proceeding with graduate work – determined to achieve her Ph.D.

But as part of her NASA scholarship, even before achieving her bachelor’s degree, Marleen began working as a NASA intern at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena , Calif. , during the summers.

“Waking up every morning and going to work for NASA is so incredible, there are no words to describe it,” Marleen says.

In the summer of 2004 she worked as propulsion lead on a $1 billion mission concept to send three landers to Mars. The next year she was helping determine a precise Mars landing site for the Phoenix Lander, launched in 2007.

Marleen's vision has continued to drive her toward her goal to fly in space.

All this is a long ways from the sugar beet fields and the potato “bodega” where she worked as a teen-ager. “Mom wanted us to understand where we came from,” Marleen recalls. After three or four summers of getting up at 5 a.m. to hoe weeds in her uncle’s sugar beets, she was determined, “I am NOT going to do this the rest of my life.”

When her mom let her move from the beet fields to the potato shed to sort potatoes, she realized: “My mom has done this for years and years to take care of our family.” And she resolved that she AND her mom would someday get out of the potato sheds.

Marleen achieved high grades, but she also knew she had to be well-rounded. So she played varsity volleyball and softball in high school, and she was chosen Warden's Junior Miss 2000.

As she approached high school graduation, she worked hard in preparing scholarship applications. And she had lots of teachers and mentors check her applications over and make recommendations.

She won a NASA Space Grant and an additional scholarship from UW. She could leave the fields once and for all, go to UW and concentrate on her studies with $83,000 in scholarships.

In September 2002, she was asked to speak alongside award-winning actor James Olmos in front of 800 of the top business executives in the state at a UW Scholarship Breakfast.

Marleen told the gathering how hard it was for her to succeed at UW. "There were times in my first and second quarter when I thought, 'College is not for me,' or 'I can't take this anymore. Everyone here is so much smarter than I am.' Then I thought how hard my parents and grandparents worked to get me a high school education. … I told myself everyday that if … [they] believed in me … I should believe in myself."

UW President Richard McCormick said at the time: "Marleen delivered an inspiring, heartfelt, and very personal speech. She captured our hearts as she spoke of her grandparents' and parents' struggles and sacrifices. Many people were moved to tears by her message," including Gov. Gary Locke.

At the urging of one CEO in attendance, Astronaut Steve Smith sent Marleen a personal note and signed photos from some of his Space Shuttle missions. His note said that Sally Ride, the first U.S. woman in space, wrote him a note in the mid-1980s telling him to follow his dreams. He now wanted to impart the same message to Marleen.

And Marleen, in turn, has a message for other struggling students.

"Coming from the background I come from, I know how hard it is for you. But I know you're smart, and I know you know how to work hard. You can do whatever you want. There are so many people willing to help. Don’t worry about the money. Just get the grades and set your goals,” she says. “Without goals you can’t go anywhere.”

“My goal is to be an astronaut, and as I continue to chase my dream, I have come to realize how essential education and higher learning is to our society and to our own future,” she says.

This young lady from Warden may very well be that first astronaut to walk on the planet Mars. I, for one, would never bet against her.

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