“I am not an orphan. I am not a ward. I am not a statistic. I am a Son of the State. I am someone who belongs and deserves a good future and a fighting chance – just as the great leaders who founded Texas.”
For 19-year-old Jaydan Martinez, the State of Texas is much more than a land of bold ideas and boundless opportunity. A place of big dreams and bigger ambitions. Texas is the father that raised him – and he is eager to make a mark on the state that helped him reach a future he once believed impossible.
A child of the foster care system, Martinez spent his youth experiencing instability, abuse, and moves that took place every six months. His mother, an addict and abuser, left Jaydan to the state at age ten while his father carried out a lifelong sentence in prison. By age 18, Martinez entered a Supervised-Independent-Living Program in San Antonio with $42 to his name and a backpack.
Today, Martinez is a student at Stephen F. Austin University, the newest institution in the University of Texas system whose namesake comes from the Father of Texas himself. Ultimately, Martinez’s goal is to transfer to the University of Texas at Austin and study Radio, Television, and Film (RTF). His accomplishment not only earns him a spot among the top 40% of foster youth in Texas to graduate high school, but also puts Martinez on track to be among the rare 3-4% of former foster youth to obtain a four-year college degree.
But ask Martinez what defines him, and he will tell you: “I am not an orphan. I am not a ward. I am not a statistic. I am a Son of the State. I am someone who belongs and deserves a good future and a fighting chance — just as the great leaders who founded Texas.”
Although Martinez didn’t grow up with adoring parents to cheer him on, he credits the State of Texas — forged by the proud men who secured Texas’ independence 190 years ago — for believing in his future, and for providing him with the building blocks to succeed.
“I often joke that if I am a Son of the State, then Stephen F. Austin is like my symbolic great-grandfather. The State of Texas believed I deserved a future, and with that as a reminder, I pushed forward,” Martinez said. “My [public] high school helped me with clothes, food, and hygiene supplies. The state supported me through extended care and SNAP. I worked hard academically, found a job, joined the Men of Honor society, and testified at the State Capitol.”
At Stephen F. Austin, Martinez continues to embody the resilience of Texas foster youth and to show others what is possible when the state invests in its children. This past year, Martinez founded a first-of-its-kind foster care program called FORWARD (Fostering Outreach, Resources, Wellness, Advocacy, and Development). The program’s goal: to inspire foster children to embrace the future that Texas has to offer, starting with a college degree at a Texas public institution.
Martinez said, “When thinking about what I wanted this group to be, I asked myself, ‘How can I benefit kids who don’t want to be in foster care, but who intend to be college students and future leaders?’”
Martinez himself aspires to make an impact, “to be a leader for [himself], to be a leader for the future, to be a leader to the people who are going to come after [him], and to represent boldly how [he] got there and what it took.”
“I developed my determination and perseverance by example,” Martinez said. “People can be born into any situation, but it is those brilliant few who understand they have the power to shape their future, to change their situation and create their own opportunities, who inspire me to keep fighting.”
Martinez believes in taking life one step and one goal at a time. Goal number one is earning a spot at the University of Texas at Austin. Goal number two: becoming someone memorable in Texas’ future.
“While my birth will always come from my parents, my identity, my strength, comes from the State of Texas. I want to make my mark here, to offer a piece of me to the state that gave me a chance to fight,” Martinez said. “To have my name, a spoon, or a trophy, or an acceptance letter in the Governor’s Mansion Memento Collection would be incredible. Whether it’s benefiting foster kids, film, university – as long as I give back to the state that gave its very best to me, I will feel like I have accomplished my biggest goal in my entire life.”