BELLEVUE Wash.
Holli Martinez dropped out of college when she married a baseball star but returned 14 years later, partly to be a better role model for her three children. She recently graduated magna cum laude from the University of Washington’s Bothell campus.
Her husband, Edgar Martinez, who retired after an All-Star career with the Seattle Mariners, returned to school, too, completing a nine-month business program earlier this year.
When they started their own foundation, education quickly became the theme.
The Martinez Foundation, which launched September 25, aims to help more Latino students attend college and more minority students become teachers.
“We want to offer opportunities,” Edgar says. “That’s what we can do.
What if I didn’t have the opportunity? Maybe I’d still be struggling back in Puerto Rico.”
