First Voice Generation Documentary Cynthia Martinez was born in Holland, the daughter of teenage migrants. She had a difficult family situation, and growing up around classmates with more opportunities highlighted this. However, after she got involved in sports, it was at these teammates' houses that their parents asked her about her dreams and goals. Her parents were supportive, but they were busy working to support the family and had no experience with higher education.
Cynthia attended West Ottawa Public Schools from Kindergarten through 12th grade and felt that few students looked like her. She decided that she wanted to be an astronaut. When she told her high school counselor of this goal, the counselor responded that she would have to get much better grades. She applied for and was accepted to the Hope College Upward Bound program. This and sports became safe spaces for her through High School. Wanting to get away from Holland, she was accepted into the WMU Aviation program through a 1st generation college student program. About 2.5 years into her schooling, just after she received her pilot's license, she looked at the amount of debt she had accumulated. She switched to the Aviation Management program and graduated with that degree. Journey to a Documentary Filmmaker |
