Martha Pena
AIU Online Distinguished Alumni Award Winner

Meet Martha Pena: Setting Herself Up For A Career, Not Just A Job

AIU Online's second Distinguished Alumni Award winner knew she wanted to find herself not just a job, but a career.

"My parents are some of the hardest working, most determined people I know, and I thank them for instilling these same qualities in me, but they found it hard to go from jobs to a career because they didn't have the opportunity to get their college degree," says Martha Pena. Martha graduated from AIU with her Bachelor's degree in Business Management in 2006 and immediately started pursuing her Master's degree in Education, also at AIU Online. The university announced she won the Distinguished Alumni Award in April.

"I wanted to be able to open my own doors and have a career rather than a series of jobs. I knew a college education was the way to get there," Martha says. "I figured that with a college degree and the work ethic my parents gave me, I'd be set."

Martha wasn't always sure she would be able to get her Bachelor's degree though. Shortly after graduating from high school, she started at a community college near her home outside of Austin, Texas. Martha didn't have the luxury of concentrating solely on school however. Working "at least full-time," she could only take a few classes at a time. Martha's thinking was that those few classes at a time were better than no classes at all though. "It was my dream to get that little piece of paper and I wasn't going to give up on my dream that easily." It took Martha four years to get her Associate degree from the community college.

Whenever Martha needed a reminder that an education was worth all the hard work she was putting into it, she looked to her aunt, a Financial Aid Director of a large community college. "She would tell me, 'In life you can have anything and everything taken away from you – your house, your car, your family – but no one can ever take away your education,'" Martha says. Martha is raising her five-year old daughter Cassandra with the philosophy, "Not going to college is not an option."

In 2004, after she had earned her Associate degree and had taken a few classes towards her Bachelor's degree, Martha learned about online education. While she was willing to spend as much time getting her Bachelor's degree as necessary, if she could get it before she was "old and gray," all the better.

"Online schools were convenient where the community college wasn't," Martha says. She decided on AIU Online over several other online universities because of the school's more professional application process and the fact the curriculum is practical as well as theoretical and classes include real-world examples.

Martha found convenience wasn't the only benefit to online education. "In usual classes, I had never been a person to take initiative. I didn't ask questions or want to head up a project. The online format gives me the opportunity to get around this shyness. Online I find myself asking questions and asserting ideas. I even have the confidence to take the lead in group projects." Martha says this newfound assertiveness transfers to her life outside of the online classroom as well. "I've gotten much more comfortable speaking to people. My business partner likes me to do all the talking to the parents now; she says I'm much more confident than I used to be."

Martha wasn't selected as AIU's Distinguished Alumni Award winner solely because of her educational achievements however. Now 27, Martha founded her own successful business when only 23.

By 2003 Martha had several years of on-the-job experience working in early childhood education and childcare. When one of her community college professors offered her a position at a new large and well-funded childcare center, Martha thought she had found her dream job. The center had a gym, 11 classrooms, and more physical resources than anywhere she had previously worked. Martha quickly realized the center was more concerned with the money in the bank than with the welfare of its charges however. Her dream job turning out to be not so dreamy, Martha decided to open her own day care center, a much, much smaller facility where she could give 12 children as much attention as they needed.

In 2004 Martha opened A Touch of Home Day Care Center with close friend and partner Magrietha Van Der Merwe. Although parents were initially skeptical of leaving their children under the care of someone as young as Martha, it didn't take long for them to realize she more than knew what she was doing. Word of mouth about A Touch of Home quickly spread and Martha found herself with a waiting list.

Graduating with her Master's degree in Education (with a concentration in Instructional Technology) this summer, Martha is looking forward to her next challenge. With half of her day care center's kids reading, adding and subtracting and ready to start first grade this fall, Martha will be closing A Touch of Home at the end of the current school year.

"I'm keeping my options open, but am looking forward to getting out into the real world of education," Martha says. "I'll have this great Master's degree –something I had never thought I would be able to get -- that I can use for any number of things. Maybe I'll work in the school system or work towards being a college instructor myself." Going along with her desire to be able to open doors to new opportunities, Martha will even be submitting her resume to AIU Online as well as several higher educational facilities in the Austin area. "You never know what could happen," she says.

"A few years ago, I was wondering whether it would be possible for me to even get my Bachelor's degree and find a career. Now I almost have my Master's degree and any number of careers I want. Thanks to AIU Online, my dreams have become a reality!"

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