Alexa Martinez: Receiving Care, Returning Care

It is impossible to talk about Alexa Martinez ’26 without talking about care. Not just care in the abstract sense, but care as a practice. It appears in the way she supports those around her, organizes her time, and imagines her future. Across residence halls, classrooms, emergency calls, and last-minute adventures with friends, Martinez has spent her Amherst years building a life centered on being present for others.

That presence has taken many forms: Community Advisor (CA) in Appleton, James, and Moore Residence Halls; certified EMT serving Amherst College Emergency Medical Services (ACEMS); teaching assistant guiding students through calculus and chemistry; and a student constantly weaving together STEM and humanities coursework. Beneath the titles and commitments, however, runs a consistent throughline: Martinez notices what people need, often before they ask.

For her, that instinct did not begin at Amherst. It began in Tucson, Arizona, in a household shaped by migration, language, and close family ties. It was later sharpened through programs designed for first-generation, low-income students that helped her see college not only as possible, but navigable.

Learning About Community 

Martinez first began to understand what institutional support could look like through a college-prep program that served first-generation, low-income students. There, she encountered peers with similar backgrounds for the first time.

“I didn’t know being first-gen[eration], low-income was such a big thing until then,” she said. “I thought I was the only one experiencing a lot of these struggles.”

That realization was transformative. What had once felt like private challenges became shared experiences. Through the program, Martinez also participated in immersive leadership experiences, including a month-long backpacking trip in Alaska without phones or outside communication.

“That was the first time I was really away from my family,” she said. “I was scared, but I realized I could do it. As long as I find people, I’m going to be okay.”

The idea that survival and belonging are rooted in connection stayed with her. When she later chose Amherst, it was not because she had a clear academic plan, but because she recognized something familiar in the way students and faculty interacted.

“At admitted students day, people just kept talking to me,” she said. “They wanted to know who I was. It felt homey in a way I can’t really explain. At Amherst, I could see myself with these people.”

Finding Ground

Like many first-generation students, Martinez’s transition to Amherst was not seamless. The scale of academic expectations, the unfamiliar social environment, and the distance from home created an adjustment period that required patience.

But it was also during this time that she began to find structure through roles centered on helping others.

She became a CA after her first year, a decision shaped directly by her own first-year experience.

“My CA was first-gen and low-income too,” she said. “He was always there for me, answering my questions, just being present. That mattered a lot.”

That experience informed her understanding of what residential life could be. As a CA, Martinez intentionally built community within dorms, particularly in first-year housing, where students were often navigating independence for the first time.

Over the years, she lived and worked in multiple residence halls. Each space had a different dynamic, but her approach remained consistent: show up, listen, and create opportunities for people to connect.

One of her favorite initiatives was a Valentine’s Day event that brought students from across the dorms together for flower arranging, painting, hot chocolate, and Polaroid photos. 

“[Everything] was gone in like 30 minutes,” she said. “People were so excited. I just love seeing that.”

She also organized movie nights, gingerbread-decorating, and Sunday brunches that became informal gathering spaces for students.

“I just like hosting events,” she said. “It makes people feel like they belong somewhere.”

By her senior year, however, Martinez made the difficult decision to step back from first-year CA responsibilities. With a thesis and major coursework ahead, she knew she would not be able to give first-years the attention they deserved.

“That made me really sad,” she said. “But I knew I couldn’t do both well. I wanted to be fully present for them, and I couldn’t guarantee that anymore.”

Instead, she transitioned to upperclassmen housing, continuing her community-building work in a different setting.

ACEMS and the Language of Emergency Care

If residential life taught Martinez about sustained community-building, ACEMS introduced her to a different form of care that was urgent, unpredictable, and immediate.

Martinez entered college already certified as an EMT, having completed high school training through Arizona’s Joint Technical Education District pathway programs, which gave her early exposure to healthcare through medical assisting and emergency response work.

“I didn’t really know what I was getting into at first,” she said. “But I liked being in situations where you never know what’s going to happen.”

She joined ACEMS as a first-year student and, over time, rose through the ranks to become a Med-10 — the highest rank within the organization. She also served as ACEMS’s Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the 2024-25 academic year.

In that role, Martinez worked to make ACEMS more accessible and inclusive, both through recruitment and internal culture-building. “We wanted to make it better, more diverse,” she said. “And I think we started something that other people will continue.”

Her work in emergency response deepened her understanding of care under pressure. Unlike residential life, where support is ongoing and relational, EMS requires rapid decision-making in high-stress environments.

“You show up, and someone is scared,” she said. “Your job is to stabilize the situation and also just be there for them.”

That balance between technical competence and emotional presence became central to how she understood healthcare more broadly.

From Consulting Plans to Public Health

Martinez did not arrive at Amherst planning to pursue medicine. In fact, initially she imagined herself studying math and eventually going into consulting.

Yet, that gradually changed through her consistent exposure to coursework in chemistry, biology, and physics, as well as through relationships with professors she described as deeply supportive. She recalls struggling in introductory chemistry and repeatedly attending office hours until the material finally clicked.

“I didn’t take [Advanced Placement] Chem[istry] in high school,” she said. “So it was hard at first. But I just kept going.”

Organic chemistry, in particular, became a turning point. “It’s like puzzles. If you like Legos, you’ll like it,” she said.

Alongside her coursework, Martinez also conducted research on opioid use disorders and public health, experiences that helped her connect clinical care with broader systemic issues with Beth Meyerson, a researcher at the University of Arizona who focuses on public health policy and harm reduction.

Over time, medicine and health policy began to feel more meaningful than consulting.“I want to change something in the healthcare system,” she said. “Even if it’s just a small step.”

Teaching, Mentorship, and Paying It Forward

One of the most consistent threads in Martinez’s Amherst experience has been teaching. Since her sophomore year, she has worked as a teaching assistant (TA) every semester across calculus, chemistry, and introductory STEM courses.

Her approach is rooted in patience and accessibility, qualities she first encountered in mentors who helped her navigate difficult material herself.

“I remember students saying they’d never do math again,” she said. “And then later they’d come back like, ‘oh, this makes sense now.’ That’s the best feeling.”

She also worked closely with students in the Summer Bridge program, a summer program designed to help first-generation, low-income first-years adjust to the college lifestyle a few weeks before their peers arrive. She often watches them grow from their first semester onward.

“That continuity is really special,” she said. “You get to watch people grow.”

That care also carries directly into the classroom. Academic Manager Jarrett Moyer, who taught Martinez in both introductory sequences and later hired her as a teaching assistant, remembers her presence as unmistakable.

“I taught Alexa in Physics-116 and -117, the first- and second-semester introductory physics courses. Our department then hired Alexa to work in my physics course as a TA,” Moyer said. “What I remember most about Alexa is that every time I saw her, she had a smile on her face. It didn’t matter if it was early in the morning or later in the day — she always came to class with a positivity that was infectious.”

Moyer emphasized that this warmth shaped her effectiveness as a mentor.

“It didn’t matter if students were having an easy or difficult day — Alexa would go over, talk with them, and try to brighten their day. That positivity is what made her such an effective TA.”

Their interactions extended beyond academics.

“Even this semester, when she’s no longer in my class, she still asks how my son is doing whenever we run into each other in the science center,” Moyer said. “These small moments show how much she genuinely cares about others. And on a lighter note, Alexa has taught me a lot of Gen Z slang over the years — which I’ve tried out with my middle school daughter to plenty of eye rolls.”

Her mentorship even extended beyond academics, through her work as a tour guide and campus ambassador. Even on days she felt exhausted, she continued to show up.

“Sometimes I don’t feel like giving tours,” she said. “But I always end up enjoying it. The people make it worth it.”

Identity, Language, and Home

Martinez’s sense of identity is deeply tied to language and family. Growing up in a Spanish-speaking household, she learned to navigate both linguistic transition and cultural preservation. Over time, she found herself moving fluidly between English, Spanish, and even Italian after studying abroad in Milan.

“There are words that just come out in Spanish without thinking,” she said. “Or sometimes Italian now too. It just happens.”

Family remains central to her sense of grounding. Raised primarily by her mother alongside her brother, Martinez grew up in a close-knit extended family where weekends were often spent together at her grandparents’ home, sharing meals and conversation.“My grandma loves to cook,” she said. “Food is how we connect.”

Long before healthcare or residential life, those experiences shaped her understanding of care and attentiveness.

A close friend of hers, Jasmine Hernandez ’26, described Martinez as someone whose curiosity continually pushes her outward.

“Alexa is one of the most outgoing people I know, always ready for a new adventure and driven by a deep curiosity about the world,” she said. “Whenever we travel, she immediately wants to find a museum and spend hours just observing and asking questions.”

That curiosity has taken Martinez from Milan and Rome to Chicago and Vermont, though friends say the destinations themselves are only part of the story.

“She’s a role model,” Hernandez added. “Someone filled with stories, curiosity, and passion whose growth will keep unfolding over a lifetime.”

Looking Ahead

After graduation, Martinez plans to take a gap year before medical school, with interests in teaching, public health, and possibly programs like Teach For America. She has also been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship as an English teaching assistant in Italy, adding another layer to an already nonlinear path.

“I want to explore teaching a little more,” she said. “I love helping people, and I love being in classrooms.”

Whether in medicine, education, or policy, her goal remains consistent: to work in spaces where care is needed and systems remain uneven.

What emerges from Martinez’s four years at Amherst is not a single trajectory, but a constellation of roles connected by a shared ethic — as an EMT, CA, TA, mentor, student, and friend. Each is different and requires a different kind of attention. But together, they reflect a singular orientation toward the world.

“I just like being there for people,” she said. “In whatever way I can.”

And for those who have lived, studied, or worked alongside her, that presence has made all the difference.