Marie Martin

Student

“Jack Wright in EOP&S and Mary Jane in the Center for Students With Disabilities program gave me courage when I didn’t have any left.”

She’s had a few run-ins over her life—literally. A couple of serious car accidents have left her with debilitating back injuries and constant pain. But it was a run in with a carjacker that really put a ‘hitch in her get-along’ and made life a struggle for Marie Martin to get back on her feet and back into the mainstream of life.

“I was struck in the temple during the carjacking and I lost a lot of memory,” says Marie. “It gave me a lot of brain damage and spinal injury, so I had to take a lot of classes over again to bring up my GPA. It’s been very hard for me,” she continues. “But last semester I got four Bs and a C, and I was president of the recreation majors on the Interclub Council, so I guess I’m making pretty good progress. I’ll have my certificate in recreation leadership—20 credits—by the end of the semester, and then I’ll just see where events take me.”

Marie says that “the services offered by SMC have made my rehabilitation a reachable goal. Eventually I’d like to work in human resources with dysfunctional families, children at risk, or people making the transition from homelessness back into the community.” But tending to those in need of healing—in every sense—should come naturally to Marie, a former nurse.

“I finished up my nursing career at LA Trade Tech, UCLA and the larger hospitals in the area,” Marie recalls. “I’ve delivered babies and tended famous athletes. But now I’d like to tend to all the people who are falling out of society. These are very repressive times, and a lot of people are falling by the wayside,” says Marie. “I’d just like to keep a good attitude and be there to help them like other people have helped me.”

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