A culmination of dreams
Attending Marquette as a first-generation student
Growing up on the west side of Chicago, Jacqueline Keidel Martinez (right, above) had never really seen people go to college. “When I was little, my aunt went back to get her master’s degree, and I remember being mesmerized by the fact that she’d go into her room and work on homework as an adult,” Jacqueline says. “I tried peeking under the door to see what she was doing. It was one of my earliest glimpses of what it meant to go to college.”
The image stuck with her. Years later, when an older high school friend committed to Marquette, Jacqueline decided to pursue her own dreams as a first-generation university student.
Her parents, both high school graduates, encouraged her, but when her mom lost a job in the economic downturn, Jacqueline’s family went from a tight, two-income situation to an even more difficult one. “I was on my own to make college happen,” she recalls. “My friend’s parents went to look at Marquette and took me along. I fell in love with campus.”
Finding her way
Starting at Marquette was a lot to navigate, Jacqueline admits. “I was definitely trying to find my way.” She found lasting support in her professors and in Marquette’s leadership. “Dr. Julia Azari was so encouraging and kind. She’s one of the most brilliant women I’ve met,” Jacqueline says. “And the admin leaders of the College of Business Administration — where I had a part time job — became like second moms to me in Milwaukee. ”
“The 1:1 support and cheerleading from people in leadership positions is something you get at Marquette. Having these resources means the world.” — Jacqueline Keidel Martinez
At times, Jacqueline ran into fellow students who struggled to relate to her background, and thanks to her growing confidence, she felt empowered to challenge their perspectives, opening their eyes further as well.
“Care for the whole person, and men and women for others really resonated with me,” Jacqueline says. “I felt embraced and taken care of at Marquette.”
Marquette memories
She holds many favorite memories, from her first few weeks as a freshman to the sheer joyous rush of attending basketball games with friends to seeing the culmination of pouring her heart into her college dream.
She also expanded her own perspectives through a number of study abroad programs, including Global Business Brigades in the Dominican Republic, a summer semester in Mexico and an exchange program to the Czech Republic.
“Marquette donors almost fully covered my costs,” she says. “As a poor kid from Chicago, I hadn’t seen or known of the world to that detail. It opened things up to me. To this day, those opportunities are some of the best memories of my life.”
Jacqueline graduated with degrees in political science — with an emphasis in economics — and Spanish. She continued to work through her undergraduate studies to cover costs, so she was thrilled to receive a full scholarship to pursue her MBA at Marquette.
“My undergraduate commencement felt like a big moment, but it didn’t fully set in since I was continuing my studies. When I finished my master’s degree, however, it felt surreal,” Jacqueline says. “I remember having a massive smile when they took my commencement photo. I’m so lucky to have had a great support system in my life from a young age, so it’s really something special when someone you love is that proud of you.”
“I still have the note my dad wrote on my grad school graduation day — ‘I was so proud of you, I almost busted my buttons.’” — Jacqueline Keidel Martinez (left, below)
Today, Jacqueline is director of integrated marketing communications at an agency in Arizona, working with international consumer brands. “I still have moments where I look back on life growing up. I didn’t realize how poor we were until I had some distance from it,” she recalls. “How did I get from there to here? I got lucky.”
She offers words of encouragement for future first-gen students: “When you come from a lower income background, it’s tempting to feel like you don’t fit in or belong. I hope each student can hype themselves up to know you deserve every chance to pave a life for yourself as you want. Stand firm and powerful in knowing your place is well-deserved — lean into that and never underestimate how it will motivate you and drive you forward,” she says.
