Full-time staff member to a graduate with a degree

Arts and Humanities impacted Rebecca St. Croix Martinez to want more in her life

By California State University, Bakersfield

May 12^th, 2021

“I took an art class -- it was a computer drawing class, and that was it. I fell in love with it,” said Rebecca St. Croix Martinez, social media specialist for the School of Arts and Humanities. “I fell in love with it, and I love the faculty of art. They were amazing. So, I changed my major at that point in time.”

St. Croix Martinez had originally gone to Bakersfield College and graduated with her associate degree in accounting. She’d even transferred to California State University, Bakersfield into the accounting program.

“It just wasn’t what I thought it was going to be,” added St. Croix Martinez.

She had to take an extra class in between, and that was the art class – the rest was history. From there, she decided to take more art classes.

However, then life became more complicated. St. Croix Martinez was diagnosed with cancer, with two to three years of her life focused on treatments. By the time she finished treatments, her children were in high school and looking to go to college.

“I wanted them to get their degrees, because I didn’t want them to be like me. I wanted to make sure they had a really good education right out of high school,” said St. Croix Martinez.

She wanted them to have more options and to know their career paths and what they wanted to do.

St. Croix Martinez moved to Bakersfield nearly 20 years ago. Her husband moved to California to be with his father, whose health wasn’t doing well, which was only meant to be temporary. But it soon became permanent.

“About a year after I moved to Bakersfield, I got a position with CSUB over in the School of Natural, Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering,” said St. Croix Martinez.

Eventually, one of her good friends went to work for the Arts and Humanities Dean, Marla Iyasere.

St. Croix Martinez made the move to the School of Arts and Humanities, as well. She’s been there ever since.

It was St. Croix Martinez who started the Arts and Humanities blog, as well as their social media channels, since it was starting to increase in popularity at the time for messaging.

Once her children made it through high school, she didn’t think much about going back to school. But her support system wouldn’t let her give up so easily, including School of Arts and Humanities Associate Dean Dr. Liora Gubkin.

“She was the one who really said, ‘look, just finish. You’re so close to that accomplishment. You never know where it could take you,’” St. Croix Martinez recalled of her conversation with Dr. Gubkin.

“As a valued staff member in the Dean’s Office, Rebecca’s contributions to the School of Arts and Humanities are characterized by competence and creativity, but it wasn’t until she was a student in my course ‘gender matters,’ that I truly understood her intellectual curiosity and commitment to learning,” said Dr. Gubkin.

Dr. Gubkin met with the advising team – they’d essentially planned out how many classes she had left and figured everything out for her.

“Over the years, I learned more about her personal story and the sacrifices she made for her family. As a co-worker, I saw how challenging it was for her to make progress toward her degree, but she was determined - class-by-class – to succeed. CSUB’s B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies provided a path forward at a moment when a college degree seemed beyond her reach, and I am humbled to have played a small role in Rebecca’s well-deserved success,” added Dr. Gubkin.

“Rebecca has been our go-to social media expert in the school for several years. I appreciate her counsel on our strategy for social media. Her input into developing our school plan for the first Giving Day campaign led to us winning the school challenge,” said School of Arts and Humanities Dean Dr. Robert “Bob” Frakes. “In addition to social media, Rebecca provides support for faculty evaluation, curricular development, scholarships and our newsletter. She has done all that while making steady progress on her degree.”

As a creative and artist herself, St. Croix Martinez has always been drawn to the arts.

She’s written and published her own children’s books.

“I've always wanted to write illustrate children's books because I just thought it would be amazing to, to make kids happy and read something fun and not be boring,” said St. Croix Martinez. “And when my grandson was born, I found that there wasn't a whole lot of books out there for more infants or before that one-year age where you just want really good visuals.”

St. Croix Martinez started making them for her grandson and it morphed into more over time. After taking the computer drawing class, she was able to expand on her drawings and art in a way that she wasn’t able to with just pen and paper.

On the side, Martinez runs an Etsy business with her artwork, coloring books and notebooks, which she hopes to expand on once she graduates.

“I wanted to gain more knowledge and get more experience and then have my faculty as mentors to help me to say, ‘here's my ideas, but I'm stuck or what should I do?’” said St. Croix Martinez.

Dr. Jorge Moraga has also played an important role in St. Croix Martinez’s path as a student.

She was awarded as this year’s Outstanding Student for Interdisciplinary Studies in Arts and Humanities.

“Mrs. Martinez has proven to be a critical thinker, effective writer, and generous peer; from encouraging her INST student colleagues in our Canvas discussion boards on their own assignments, to facilitating effective and important conversations as it pertained to the seminar’s academic focus this semester (COVID-19), and to submitting assignments of fine quality, Mrs. Martinez is refuting any symptoms associated with that wicked undergraduate contagion known as ‘senioritis.’ Far from it, Mrs. Martinez is taking this last semester as an opportunity to explore new questions rooted in childhood experiences in order to consider significant ways to bring her academic career full circle,” said Dr. Moraga, assistant professor of interdisciplinary studies.

“I cannot think of a better award for one of the most committed and dedicated students I have had the chance to work with these past four years,” Dr. Moraga stated.

As both a student and full-time employee, St. Croix Martinez empathizes with other students who are navigating their classes, while also working two or three jobs. But also recognizes the support and help she’s had along the way.

Throughout her time at CSUB, she is most proud of the social media accounts she helped start and has grown.

“I still want to grow it. I think there's a lot of room for improvement. But I've been really happy and excited about that because I think we've really connected with our students and our students come in and they talk to us more,” added St. Croix Martinez.

“Rebecca’s exuberance for life and learning radiates to all in her orbit. She has channeled her energy and zeal for artistic expression into a successful publishing business, Crying Girl Press, in which she sells original creations, including notebooks and coloring books, and a series of children’s books that she has authored and illustrated, based on her endearing character, Burt the Bunny,” said Dr. Alicia Rodriguez, director, interdisciplinary studies program.

“As an Interdisciplinary Studies major whose build-your-own degree combines the disciplines of Art and Business, her integrative academic experience at CSUB has not only helped her hone her skills as an artist but has also helped her develop the business acumen she needs to manage her press and market her creations. I have no doubt that Rebecca will enjoy continued success after graduation,” Dr. Rodriguez added.

She’s also helped implement the ‘Meet your Professors’ section, which has really grabbed the attention of students and stirred more conversation between them and their professors.

“I'm just so happy about that because the professors have said that the students actually come in and talk to them,” said St. Croix Martinez.

St. Croix Martinez plans to retire next year, which will give her more time to expand and grow her Etsy business, spend more time with her grandkids and has thought of getting her associate teacher certification to be able to teach art to younger children.

St. Croix Martinez is set to graduate this spring and is also excited that it coincides with CSUB’s 50th anniversary celebration.

“Oh, I actually love this, and the reason why I really love it is because CSUB was established in 1965, which is the same year I was born. So, I always loved that,” said St. Croix Martinez, referring to the year approval was given to start a state college in Kern County.