Jacqui Martinez 25BSN
Senior, Traditional BSN Program
Jacqueline “Jacqui” Martinez is a senior in the traditional BSN program and the director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging for the Emory Student Nurses Association. A new position, the role serves as a resource for BSN students from historically marginalized identity groups.
“My job is to promote an environment where students from different identities feel welcome, heard and uplifted and know that their voices matter,” says Martinez, a first-generation Latina student from Chicago. Among the initiatives she is starting is a biweekly community safe space meeting where students from diverse communities discuss personal and academic challenges and ways to navigate a professional degree program.
In addition to this new position, the school supports identify-specific student organizations such as the Emory Black Nursing Student Organization and the newly formed Emory Latinx Nursing Association, as well as diversity-specific events and initiatives throughout the year.
Martinez is confident that these measures have an impact.
“The biggest thing that many students from underserved or historically marginalized groups experience is imposter syndrome, feeling that where you are is not where you should be and you’re not capable enough,” she says. “Students may face challenges like this along the way, but there is so much support you can receive. These efforts tell students, ‘You can do it. You're empowered here, and here are the resources that you may need to get to where you want to be.’”
What Martinez is amplifying:
She believes empowering diverse students to study and practice nursing uniquely benefits diverse patients and communities. “When we graduate and enter the field, more patients will see nurses that look like them, and that presence will make a difference,” she says.
“These efforts tell students, ‘You can do it. You’re empowered here.’”
Built with Shorthand