Martinez appointed Multicultural Education Director at ABAC

Published 9:30 am Tuesday, September 27, 2016

By Special to The Gazette

Olga Contreras Martinez

TIFTON, Ga. – For young Olga Contreras Martinez, the process was simple.  Pick the oranges out in the Florida sunshine.  Put them in the basket.  Tomorrow it would be grapefruits or tangerines or kumquats.  As the seasons changed, her family would move to Georgia to harvest peppers, squash, eggplants and green beans.

Martinez no longer picks fruits and vegetables for a living, but she is harvesting young minds and preparing them for productive futures through her new role as the Director of Multicultural Education Programs at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

“I am just here to pay it forward,” Martinez said.  “I am so grateful for all the people who helped me along the way.”

In her new role, Martinez will have responsibility over the High School Equivalency Program (HEP), the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP), the Upward Bound Program, the African-American Male Initiative, and the Consortium Migrant Education Program.

An ABAC employee since 2001 when she was hired as the HEP Coordinator, Martinez was promoted to the HEP Associate Director in 2011. 

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“I finally get my wish to be associated with the CAMP Program,” Martinez said.  “They used my story and my struggle when I was a student here in 1994 to write the first CAMP grant.”

Martinez was a sophomore at Atkinson County High School in 1992 when she participated in a two-week Migrant Education Leadership Program coordinated by Dr. Rosemary Johnson, former director of Counseling at ABAC.

“She talked about college, but I never really thought that plan was for me,” Martinez said.  “Then when Dr. Harold Loyd was president of ABAC, he came to speak to 20 students in the group.  He told me to make plans to be an ABAC student one day.  I’ll never forget what he said.  ‘If it is to be, it is up to me.’  That really affected me.”

A 1994 graduate of Atkinson County High School, Martinez began attending ABAC that fall.  Marshall Harper, a migrant education program coordinator, helped to pave the way.

“My mom wanted me to ask Mr. Harper how much we owed him for helping us,” Martinez remembered.  “He said that if you really want to pay me, do the same thing for others.  Now I get to do that every day.”

Martinez completed her ABAC degree and then earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Valdosta State University in 2000 and a Master of Public Administration degree in 2007.  She spent some time in 1997 with various AmeriCorps projects, handing out jackets to the homeless in Atlanta and working with the Navajo tribe in New Mexico while building homes for Habitat for Humanity.

“During this period in my life, I kept thinking how could we have all this poverty in the most progressive nation in the world,” Martinez said.  “How can we have homeless people who don’t have enough to eat?

“Sometimes we have skills that are right in front of us that we are not using.  Someone sees something special inside of you.  I volunteered to teach English as a second language in Pearson, and then Okefenokee Technical College actually hired me to do the same thing and for 19 years I’ve been involved in education.”

Dr. Gail Dillard, Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs at ABAC, believes Martinez is perfect for her new position.

“Olga’s education, experience, and passion for all of ABAC’s Multicultural Education programs make her not only a great fit for this position but also an exemplary ambassador for the college,” Dillard said.

Ironically, Martinez was a member of the ABAC Ambassadors in 1995 and received the Distinguished Ambassador Award for that year.

“In any job, you must be able to communicate with your audience,” Martinez said.  “That was a great opportunity for me to learn how to speak in front of a group as an ABAC Ambassador.”