We give our children many gifts throughout life – tangible presents like toys and treats, but also the less quantifiable gifts like life experiences and lessons. This is a story about the latter type of gifts, specifically, the gift of learning.
TIer Martha Gonzales always had a passion for learning, but life has a funny way of rearranging priorities. She met the man of her dreams when she was only 21. He was a Texan, and soon enough Martha left her native town of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, for Dallas – a foreign country with a foreign language. Before she turned 23, Martha became a mother, and by her 28th birthday, she was busy raising three beautiful daughters and helping to pay the bills as a cashier at a grocery store and later as a janitor at an airline maintenance company.
Taking care of three children and working would have been enough for most, but Martha craved learning. She enrolled in community college taking English and computer classes. She shared her desire for knowledge with her three young daughters in a truly unique way; instead of mom being teacher and child being student, they learned together.
“We read a lot of children’s books and watched a lot of Sesame Street. Reading books to them also helped me with my English,” said Martha.
About 15 years ago, Martha was laid off by the airline maintenance company and was thankful to find an opportunity as a contractor with TI. It just so happened to be in the marketing department for Latin America where she could use her newly acquired bilingual skills. Since then, Martha has worked in government relations on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education issues, and for the last four years, she has served as the executive assistant for Melendy Lovett, president of TI Education Technology. She has continued to learn and apply her love of education to her career every step of the way.
“TI provided all types of classes and trainings. I was very grateful to learn about time management, how to work with and understand different cultures and attend college-level classes for parents,” said Martha. “A part of my job has always been about learning the importance of a STEM degree and how we need more engineers, especially women.”
This is where Martha’s gift to her three daughters came to life. She created an environment in her home focused on fostering education. Her attitude and approach toward learning was only reinforced by the company she worked for, and it shows in her three daughters who all have pursued STEM educations. Karen, 19, is currently a student at the University of Texas at Austin in the electrical engineering program. Kristine, 23, recently graduated from Northeastern University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. Kim, 25, completed her bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering at MIT and earned a master’s degree in instructional technology at the University of Texas at Austin. Kim is now an education technology content engineer at TI, and Martha credits her daughters’ interest in STEM degrees and careers to TI.
“I always told them, ‘You know this product or this chip that goes in your car or cell phone or computer? TI developed that.’ They would get tired of me constantly talking about TI, with them responding, ‘Yeah Mom, I know TI made that,’” said Martha. “I was always so proud of the work TI did, and I shared that with my daughters.”
But Martha says it was not just the TI products that influenced the learning paths of her children; it was also the people. Martha cannot count the number of times co-workers would help her children with everything from working through complex math concepts to editing essays for college applications. Kim even says she went to MIT for her undergraduate work because of a conversation with a TIer.
“TIer Maribel Mendoza went to MIT, and my mom had me meet with her. If I hadn’t had lunch with her and if she hadn’t told me, ‘You need to go to MIT,’ then I would not have even applied,” said Kim.
After MIT, Kim interned in the TI Education Technology department, applying without anyone knowing her mother was the assistant to the business unit’s president. She strived to get the internship on her own merits and received a job offer after completing her master’s work. Kim now spends her days focused on the content that goes into the TI-Nspire™ CX handheld graphing calculator used by students all over the world. Kim also mentors girls at a local high school and regularly speaks at career days at Dallas area schools.
“It is about getting girls excited about STEM careers. It’s fun to tell them, ‘This is what I do, and I have fun doing it. There is not one mold that fits an engineer. An engineer comes in all different shapes and sizes,’” said Kim.
Martha gave a gift to her daughters – the gift of learning. Now her daughters are giving that gift to the next generation of girls. Life has a funny way of rearranging priorities, but it never stopped Martha in her search of knowledge for herself and her daughters.