Heidi Garcia-Martinez: ‘I’m Going to Be a Graduate!’

There’s rarely a day at Bethel Acceleration Academies when Heidi Garcia-Martinez doesn’t settle into a chair, open her computer and focus in on the coursework she needs to earn her high school diploma.

That’s a far different picture than during Heidi’s years as a student at a traditional high school, and while studying from home during 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic closed public school buildings.

“I was really behind in my grades,” she says. “I knew I wasn’t going to graduate.”

Heidi is a naturally strong student, but she can also be her own worst enemy. She has a tendency to procrastinate and would too often let academics slide when there were easier, more enjoyable things to do, she acknowledges. That was especially true when she was supposed to be studying at home.

“Home is the place where I do the things I like to do,” she says. “Homework I don’t do.”

But transferring to BAA in January 2021 and coming regularly to the quiet, studious learning spaces help Heidi to focus, she says. And when she needs academic support, or a firm-but-gentle nudge, the educators on site stand ready.

“It’s fantastic to be able to come here and do my work,” she says.

Among the BAA team members who have been especially helpful, she says, math coach and academy director Alison Hansen, ESE coach Stacy Nikolaisen and social studies coach Kevin Torres stand out.

Math has always come fairly easily to Heidi, but she says she fell behind after letting laziness get the better of her. Hansen helped her close the gap. “She’s amazing,” Heidi says. “She was the one who was teaching me all the math I was skipping.”

In addition to helping her with academic work, Nikolaisen provided encouragement and big sisterly advice when troubles would crop up for Heidi. “She’s like my friend-teacher. She’s really here for moral support.”

But the most constant presence is Torres, who never lets Heidi set her standards and work ethic low. “He’s extremely annoying,” she says with a laugh brimming with affection. And, she adds, “he treats me like  a person.”

Heidi’s parents were both born in Mexico and have since moved back, she says. Because of her daily attendance and cheerful outlook, Heidi has become something of an ambassador for new and prospective students visiting BAA.

“Heidi is a joy to work with,” says Torres. “She not only comes prepared to work hard, but always does it with the right attitude and a sense of humor.  I see a ton of potential in her for a successful future.”

After high school, she plans to study world languages in college, in hopes of becoming an English teacher in Japan. “I’m a huge anime fan and I love the culture there. They’re very polite and very organized,” she says, adding, “The United States is like a big dumpster fire right now.”

But for Bethel Acceleration Academies, she says, “I’d probably be a super senior or GED right now.” Instead, she proudly declares, “I’m going to be a graduate.”