Jasmine Martinez remembers the day she arrived in Arizona.
It was August 2015, and Martinez was moving to Laveen from New York City. She was 27, had packed all her belongings into six suitcases and had $4,000 to her name. When the airport elevator doors opened, she and her son were blasted by hot wind.
Martinez looked down at her 4-year-old son, “and he was like, ‘Mommy, it’s so hot.” Immediately, she began to have doubts about moving. “I felt like I was failing my son. I felt hot. I felt frustrated,” Martinez said.
Martinez remembers having to walk a mile and a half in the Arizona summer with her son to the nearest bus station that first summer. As a single mom, she hoped Arizona would provide a better life for her child. She was determined to find the success she had been looking for, but was still struggling to stick with her education.
“Being a single mom, unfortunately, we have a trajectory,” Martinez said. Four times she had attempted to finish her associate degree but never could stick with it. “Whether it was finances or scheduling or — if I’m being really honest — I just was not focused. I couldn’t sit through seminars and do assignments and make sure my kid was picked up on time.”
On her fifth attempt, she decided it was going to be different. “As a parent, we’re always making sure that others are taken care of,” Martinez said. “I wanted to do something for me, and the only thing I could think of was school.”
Martinez didn’t have a set plan — she just wanted to finish something she began long ago. Once she started working with disadvantaged young people, something clicked. She got a job as an administrative assistant for the Homeless Youth Outreach program at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, which brings health care services to homeless youth, and later as an assistant to the principal at a local high school. Both jobs allowed Martinez to work one-on-one with kids, and she realized she wanted to be a positive role model for them.
“I see so much of the younger version of me that was so broken and so sad and so lonely,” said Martinez. “I want to be someone that I did not have growing up.”
The challenges brought by moving to Arizona paid off. She felt she was providing her son a better life, and she completed her associate degree at Central Arizona College in Coolidge.
When Martinez was accepted to Arizona State University, she was elated, but concerned about how she would be able to pay. That’s when a scholarship opportunity from Helios Education Foundation caught her attention.
The Helios Education Foundation, a nonprofit focused on increasing access to education after high school in Arizona and Florida, celebrated its 20th anniversary by gifting 20 people scholarships of up to $20,000. The scholarships were exclusively for students transferring from a community college to an accredited four-year program.
“We’re celebrating by giving students some assistance to complete that last piece of their educational journey and attain that four-year degree,” said Senior Vice President for Arizona Community Engagement Vince Yanez. “Many of them are adult learners, have a whole set of different needs, and might not have the same number of financial assistance opportunities available to them.”
Helios wanted to focus on transfer students for this scholarship opportunity because they are often overlooked when it comes to financial assistance. Most opportunities for financial assistance are only available to students enrolling in postsecondary education immediately after high school.
The 20 recipients were chosen because they showed exceptional drive to complete their studies and were just in need of a financial leg up.
Helios has a statewide postsecondary attainment goal. Arizona “cannot hit its attainment goal unless we do a better job of helping adult learners,” Yanez said.
Martinez, 36, said becoming an Arizona 20th Anniversary Pathway Scholar made her feel seen and recognized for her hard work. While it did not mean she could stop working as she continues her education, it will be one less thing to worry about, she said.
She plans to pursue a degree in special education. Her personal experience with her son, who receives special education services, and her sister, who has Down syndrome, helped Martinez realize her desire to make sure all children get the proper education.
While Martinez didn’t have the support she needed in her primary school years, she found it later in life through Helios and Central Arizona College’s honor society and wanted to pay it forward.
“I need to be what I was just blessed with,” Martinez said. “With individuals that knew better, that could do better, that guided me, that walked me through the steps.”
Susana Nava, another Arizona 20th Anniversary Pathway Scholar, moved to Arizona from Morelos, Mexico, when she was 5 years old. She was enrolled in the public education system and never questioned her immigration status. She was determined to go to college and earned dual enrollment credits throughout high school.
After graduating, Nava continued her studies at Mesa Community College and was on a path to graduate when Senate Bill 1070 brought her studies to a halt. The bill, which was meant to encourage undocumented people to leave the state and was largely found unconstitutional in the courts, was signed into law in 2010. Nava’s grades slipped because of the stress of the “show me your papers” law.
Professors, she said, started advising her against pursuing her education further as the bill could bring up challenges she might not be able to overcome. “They were trying to help me out and have me not stick out,” Nava said, so she decided to drop out.
“Not having that support really held me back as well and impacted my outlook as far as being able to actually get to that end goal,” said Nava, 37. “That also kind of shut down my voice at that time.”
In 2012, when President Barack Obama signed an executive order declaring deferred action for childhood arrivals — meaning people who migrated to the U.S. as children would not be prioritized for immigration enforcement — Nava was eligible for what has come to be called “DACA status.” Using her new status, she started working retail jobs until the program was interrupted by the first Donald Trump presidential administration.
Aliento, a nonprofit organization that helps students, DACA recipients and mixed-status families, reached out to Nava, and she went to one of its workshops. Nava started getting involved with Aliento and working with other people affected by immigration policies.
Through Aliento, Nava found her voice again, she said.
“I needed to overcome that struggle and be able to surpass that barrier that was put in front of me,” Nava said.
She now works full-time helping other students ensure they get their postsecondary education regardless of their immigration status. Since she has not finished college, the job has made her feel at odds with herself, she said.
Nava decided that if she was going to be in a position to encourage others to finish school, it was only right for her to do the same. She enrolled in ASU’s business administration program with the intention of using what she learned to help further Aliento’s cause.
“Aliento has become a really big part of my life, and especially because I’m an impacted person, I feel it’s only right to pay back to the community that I’m part of,” Nava said.
Scholarship recipients and their family members were invited to an event on May 7.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego attended and expressed gratitude for the opportunities Helios has brought to Arizonans, declaring May 7, 2025, as Helios Education Foundation Day.
“To the Helios team, congratulations on two decades of excellence,” Gallego said. “You have changed so many lives and our entire state.”
Coverage of education solutions on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is partially supported by a grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation’s Arizona Community Collaborative Fund.
