Laura Martinez first grasped the power of teaching as a teenager growing up in Mexico. Tasked with volunteering in her community for a high school civics class, Martinez, then 15, chose to tutor more than 80 third-graders who were behind academically.

Within three months, she taught most students in her Saturday-morning extra-help sessions how to read and write. “It was amazing,” Martinez recalled.

More than 40 years later, with a decade of paraprofessional work experience under her belt, Martinez, 57, will earn a bachelor’s degree in special education from Illinois State University this May.

“It’s my dream come true,” said Martinez. This year, she is a permanent substitute special education teacher at Central Elementary School in Rochelle and will become a full-time, certified special education teacher there next fall.

Martinez is one of 53 students in the College of Education’s inaugural Paraprofessionals Unlocking Licensure in Special Education (PULSE) program to graduate from Illinois State this spring.

“I’m going to have the tools to help more kids,” Martinez said. “(Earning my bachelor’s degree) also shows my own children that everything is possible, and there’s no age to stop learning—ever. Just because you couldn’t go to college right after graduation doesn’t mean the work ended. There’s always an opportunity.”

Martinez, a mother of four who has lived in Rochelle for a quarter century, first worked as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) and a restaurant manager before joining Rochelle Elementary District 231 as a bilingual education aid in 2004. She left in 2007 to raise her children before returning in 2017 as a permanent substitute teacher.

“I’m known as the teacher students can’t goof around with,” Martinez said. “But I’m also the one they can come ask for a hug or advice. I like to build rapport with the kids, so they know the expectations.”

Students also understand that Martinez values hard work and occasionally rewards them with Pokémon cards or trinkets from her treasure chest.

Martinez, who already had an associate degree and planned to gradually work toward her bachelor’s to become a licensed teacher, was enticed by the opportunity to expedite the process through Illinois State’s two-year PULSE program.

“I thought, ‘This is cool, but I don’t have a way to pay for this,’” Martinez said. “(My coworker who told me about PULSE) said, ‘Just apply. We’ll figure the rest out later.’”

After she was accepted, colleagues and Illinois State staff helped Martinez secure funding to enroll in PULSE.

“Everybody started sending me emails with grants and scholarships,” Martinez said. “Even the superintendent of the district said, ‘You got this. Come on, you can do it.’”

For the past two years, Martinez balanced her full-time position at Central Elementary School with PULSE’s online course content.

“Working and studying is hard,” Martinez said. “All of my instructors have been amazing, and the support I’ve received from my district has been amazing.”

PULSE Clinical Coordinator Krystal Lewis-Pratl said Martinez’s journey through the program has been inspiring.

“With classroom experiences across resource support, instructional roles, reading intervention, and after-school enrichment programs, she has impacted students from kindergarten through fifth grade, including Spanish-speaking learners,” Dr. Lewis-Pratl said. “Her ability to adapt, serve, and inspire both inside and outside the classroom speaks to her leadership, resilience, and heart for education.”

This year, during the classroom-clinical portion of the program, Martinez applied what she learned directly to her work at Central Elementary School.

“Every time we had a lesson and we talked about a strategy, then I’d go back in the classroom and apply that strategy to see which ones work and which ones might not,” Martinez said. “It’s a learning process, and everything has been really helpful.”

Martinez’s daughter, a senior in high school, experienced teaching clinicals simultaneously as a Teacher Career Pathways participant.

“Watching Laura and her daughter pursue teacher preparation side-by-side reflects her commitment to learning,” Lewis-Pratl said. “She truly embodies the spirit of the PULSE program, and I am excited to see how she impacts her future learners.”

Empowered by PULSE and a bachelor’s degree in special education, Martinez is combining her decades-long passion for teaching with knowledge and confidence to become an even more impactful educator and advocate.

“This is my key to giving kids a better opportunity,” she said.

This story is from a series of profiles featuring Redbirds who are graduating this May. For more information about how Illinois State is celebrating commencement, visit the Graduation Services website.