From Prison to Dean's List: Alex Martinez Credits Rising Scholars for His Second Chance

About a year ago, Alex Martinez, now 45, arrived at Santiago Canyon College (SCC) in Orange County feeling desperate and overwhelmed. After a serious injury left him unable to work his physically demanding job, he sought to enroll in classes but was nearly defeated by the complex enrollment process.

A single father with a past marked by incarceration and gang involvement, he felt out of place among much younger students. His arms and legs were covered in tattoos, a visible reminder of a life he was determined to leave behind.

Just as he was about to give up, Martinez encountered a maintenance worker he knew from his past, who directed him to the Rising Scholars program. Designed to support formerly and currently incarcerated students, Rising Scholars offers dedicated staff, counselors, priority registration, peer mentoring, tutoring, and career guidance.

Nearly 100 California community colleges now provide these services.

At SCC, the program evolved from outreach work the college began in 2016 inside Orange County jails, according to Albert Alvano, a professor, counselor, and director of SCC’s Rising Scholars program. That early effort led to an on-campus program launched in 2018, originally called Project Rise.

Today, Rising Scholars at SCC serves more than 100 active students, up from about 30 to 35 when it became official in 2022.

Alvano vividly recalls the day Martinez walked in with his two sons. "He came onto our SCC campus not really having a plan," Alvano said. "He was getting ready to leave, a little bit overwhelmed."

Martinez grew up in Santa Ana in what he describes as an abusive and chaotic home. His father was a drug dealer, and Martinez was often pulled into that world, delivering packages he knew contained drugs.

He also endured physical abuse, often stepping in to protect his mother. By his teens, he was selling drugs, fighting at school, and drifting toward gang life.

"I just wanted to belong somewhere," he said. He cycled through Juvenile Hall, county jail, and state prison, serving "three or four years at a time."

His life began to change when he became a father to two sons born back-to-back. For the first time, he felt a responsibility greater than himself.

When the boys' mother left, he found himself raising them alone. "That's when I said, 'I'm going to focus on raising my kids and doing good,'" Martinez recalled.

He worked moving jobs, stayed out of trouble, and tried to build a stable life, but the pandemic injury derailed him.

Turning to social services for help, someone suggested school. That's when he met Alvano and the Rising Scholars program.

Martinez started with noncredit classes, initially unable to log on to a computer. Rising Scholars counselors sat with him until he learned.

Within months, he moved into credit classes and enrolled full time. Today, he takes 16 units, arrives early each morning to study, and stays after class to finish assignments before picking up his sons from school.

He also volunteers at their school, coaching soccer and football, and stays after to help children whose parents can't pick them up.

"He's making the right changes in his life," Alvano said. "Someone who is committed now. And it's about his kids."

Martinez now mentors youth, showing them his scars and his blind right eye. "You're still young," he tells them.

"You can bounce back before you end up like me, trying to catch up at 45." He plans to earn a degree in human services and become a drug and gang counselor in Santa Ana. His dream is to work with programs such as Project Kinship, a nonprofit run by men he once knew from the system that supports individuals impacted by incarceration, gangs, and violence.

He imagines picking up kids from the barrios, taking them hiking, getting them into sports, and showing them a different life.

"I like the way I'm going. I'm getting A's now," Martinez said. "I got my little boys, and I'm free."