Jo Anna Martinez

During my educational journey I have acquired an associates’ degree in psychology, a Certified Nursing Assistant certification and licensure, I am a certified phlebotomist and have taken several courses that helped me to complete my associates in a shorter period of time and also helped speed up my bachelors’ degree with NMHU. I have chosen Highlands as the final step in my educational journey because they offer all of the steps I need to get to my final goal of a PhD in clinical/neuropsychology which will help to support my goals of opening up my own practice that would be a huge benefit to northern New Mexico.
I decided to change directions into the psychology field with Santa Fe Community College where I completed my associates degree on the Dean’s list with a 4.0 GPA, as a member of Phi Theta Kappa and also a member of the National Society of Leaders.
Now that I have transferred to NMHU, I am traveling 156 miles per day of class. With my fall schedule having classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday I am traveling 468 miles each week on top of making payments on tuition, purchasing books and supplies out of pocket. This travel and academic debt adds a lot of stress on top of raising a family, being a good role model to my children and making sure I put enough hours at work to be able to financially maintain a household and keep up with my academic commitment to NMHU