As Jonathan Martinez enters this new chapter of his life he’s grateful for the lessons he learned here at San Jac. Martinez will graduate with his associate’s degree in applied science and engineering.

“San Jac has taught me more about who I am and how I work,” Martinez said. “Before college, I didn’t really understand how I worked but after taking a couple of classes I learned more about myself and how I work under stress, assignments, and working with others. That’s something I learned during my time here.”

His favorite course he has taken at San Jac was psychology because of how interesting the content was and how well the professor taught.

“The professor (Chirag Patel) was passionate about the material. It was interesting learning about the mind and how your mind can do certain things. It was mostly how the professor engaged with the material,” Martinez said.

Martinez is still debating his plans for after graduation, but as he continues in life he remembers how important it is to not put too much pressure on yourself while learning from mistakes learned along the way.

“Definitely prioritize yourself. Don’t stress yourself about college, of course it’s important and all that, but at the end of the day you should always put yourself first. There’s been a couple of times where I had bad periods and was struggling with mental health and I kind of just slowed down in my school work and focused on myself. Take care of yourself before committing to a lot of things because it can be stressful.”