Karina Martinez
B.A. in Criminal Justice, Rutgers College, New Brunswick
Hometown: Lyndhurst, New Jersey
Karina Martinez is graduating from Rutgers with accolades, but in her initial year here, she wasn’t even sure she would make it. Faced with challenging classes and newfound freedoms, Karina earned just a 2.4 GPA her first semester. Then, with the support of her Educational Opportunity Fund “family,” Karina turned things around, making the dean’s list and becoming a member of the prestigious Cap and Skull Society.
She also got to spend a summer in Ghana, where she researched child labor laws in order to develop workshops on human rights for parents of child domestic workers. “I have a strong passion for social issues, and Rutgers has opened my eyes to the variety of them,” says Martinez, who is a native of Peru. Now she plans to further her interest in social issues by pursuing a master’s degree in social work in preparation for law school.
