Before transforming into a super senior, Heidimae Martin said she was just a normal student trying to figure out what algorithms were.
“I am a senior right now, but when I started college, I was in the way, way lowest of the math,” she said. “Now my GPA is 4.10.”
A major in biology, Martin serves as the president of students in the UNM chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, an honors society for students with a GPA of at least 3.90. Martin also has minors in chemistry and psychology.
But Martin, 28, said students, even those who currently have low grades, have the opportunity to alter their GPAs.
“Nobody ever starts off knowing chemistry right off the bat,” she said. “There’s a reason we’re in college: to learn this stuff. If you don’t know this stuff, that’s perfectly fine. You just have to want to know.”
Originally from Wisconsin, Martin decided to move to Albuquerque for college after living here with her aunt for a year when she was 15. And she said she loves the Albuquerque atmosphere.
“I’ve lived in larger cities and I’ve lived in smaller towns,” she said. “This is kind of like a nice in-between.”
Martin said she will “possibly” graduate next spring. She said she is still contemplating whether she should study abroad before leaving UNM.
After graduation, Martin said she wants to stay at the University to pursue neurology at its medical school. She said she wants to continue to study at UNM because of its “hands-on” teaching approach.
She also plans to get involved in rural health care, she said.
“Roswell, right now, has just lost their only neurologist,” she said. “That’s pretty big. They really need them. And the more rural the community is, the fewer specialists you see there.”
UNM is “phenomenal” when it comes to encouraging students’ academics, Martin said.
“The only problem that I have ever had being a higher GPA student is having too much opportunity,” she said. “For biology, for instance, there’s a newsletter that comes out all the time, and your biggest problem is trying to pick which (opportunity). You get the good grades coming in, the rest is going to come through.”
Martin said she encourages students to excel with their studies and to get involved in honors societies on campus.
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“If you can’t find anything else that matters to you, just being in an honors society is a pride thing,” she said. “We do the things that we do for pride.”
This semester, Martin is taking courses in physics and organic chemistry, and an honors class in nanotechnology. She’s also taking “good ol’” aerobics.
“You gotta keep active,” she said.
