Coe College recently issued the following announcement.
“Hey, we're going on a band trip to China in two weeks, and we need an oboe player. Do you have a passport?” asked Alma A. Turechek Professor of Music and Coe College Director of Bands William Carson.
Martha Hughes ’12 was on the other end of this phone call the summer before her first year at Coe. Besides being one of her earliest memories of Coe, it also is one of her fondest. Little did she know this trip foreshadowed a series of travels she would embark on because of Coe that would help her find the courage to fight for others.
The New Mexico native with family roots in Iowa and Minnesota turned to the Midwest for college with her sights set on strong English and world languages departments, a strong community and the chance to play the oboe.
Martha’s interest in languages stems from her childhood on Navajo Nation (Diné) and her older sister’s Diné lessons. Her sister and babysitter made up a game where together they taught Martha basic Navajo like numbers and colors to help her sister retain what she was learning. Because Martha’s parents worked for the Indian Health Service, by the time she was enrolled to attend school on Navajo Nation, Martha had a solid foundation in Diné to use in the classroom.
“I had that very early exposure to another language — especially with Navajo, it's a very difficult language. It's very tonal as well, and so when I went to kindergarten and beyond and we had Navajo language components to our classes, I was able to fit in and sort of keep up,” she said.
The early exposure to another language blossomed into a passion by the time she enrolled at Coe. During Martha’s four years at Coe, she was a tutor, German Club member, editor for the Coe world language poetry journal Babel and a Big Sister in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Lunch Buddy Program. She double majored in English and German and completed a May Term at Standing Rock. She also participated in her first of many study opportunities in Germany through a Coe exchange program.
“It was a great experience to live and study there. It helped solidify that I wanted to go back and spend more time in Germany,” she said.
Her wish was granted with a Fulbright U.S. Student Program presentation led by Retired Professor of English and National Fellowship Advisor Ann Struthers.
“It was the first spark. I thought this could really help me continue learning the language. I knew this would give me experience in the classroom, and even though I didn’t study to become an educator I wanted to see if that was the kind of direction that I might want to go in,” she said.
At the time, Martha was contemplating applying to graduate school for English to become an English professor. But advice concerning the time and financial commitment in graduate studies, prompted Martha to apply to the Fulbright program. She received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Germany — only 20 miles away from Martha’s first exchange program through Coe.
The Fulbright experience helped Martha confirm she was comfortable in the classroom. After returning to New Mexico, she interned at Albuquerque Academy. She earned a master’s degree in intercultural education, migration and multilingualism from Karlsruhe University of Education in 2016.
The graduate program gave Martha a strong foundation to pursue a career in education. She was a substitute teacher for Albuquerque Public Schools for a year and later taught college and career readiness courses at a Navajo Nation high school for three years.
“I felt like it really was an opportunity for me to go back to serve a community like the one that raised me. It's a small school so I really got to know the students. I enjoyed giving back to students and the community that I care so much about,” she said.
Martha closed the classroom door and stepped into community action to advocate for students. She recently became the adults in education manager at United Way of Central New Mexico leading projects to advance educational initiatives and break barriers in partnership with higher education institutions and businesses.
Martha credits her Coe liberal arts education for empowering her to try different life and work experiences to find what she wanted to do. In the end, Martha found who she wanted to be.
“Coe gave me the opportunity to bring all aspects of my life together to be dedicated to anti-racism and advocate for more representation for my students, school systems and colleges. I want to be a support for students so they can lead the future,” she said.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Coe College
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