It is the last week of school and Verónica Martínez has a lot to celebrate as she is the first CUNY LaGuardia Community College (LGCC) student to be selected for the Goldwater Scholarship. A scholarship for students in careers of Technology, Science and Mathematics.
“Obviously, I’m very proud of myself, I’m really grateful for the opportunities I’ve had here at LaGuardia,” explains Martínez.
Who was selected out of 4,000 applicants and only three CUNY students have achieved this merit so far. Verónica arrived from Ecuador three years ago. His wish was to continue his education at an American university. Upon arriving at LGCC, he focused on pursuing a career in Environmental Sciences. Your goal is to pursue a career as a wildlife conservationist.
“I always liked nature, science documentaries and especially wildlife, be they animals or plants,” explains this Ecuadorian student.
At LGCC he has had the opportunity to be part of environmental investigations. One of them over the waters of Newtown Creek, a canal that separates Queens and Brooklyn with a long history of contamination. His work revealed that the ventilation system that the city installed to improve water quality, formed a bacteria that damages the ecosystem and human health.
“So part of our project is to see what kind of bacteria we find here, how many bacteria and what kind,” Martinez said.
In addition, Verónica has maintained a high general average, 3.9. Which has made her an honors student. Receiving this scholarship guarantees you $ 7,000 for up to two years to complete your bachelor’s degree. Verónica encourages more Latina women to dare to pursue a career in science: “If you study or do something that you are passionate about, it doesn’t matter what difficulties you are going to have.”
Martinez is graduating from LaGuardia Community College this month and hopes to continue his environmental science studies at Columbia University.
Visit the NY1 News page with our special coverage on the coronavirus: Coronavirus outbreak
– .
