What Our Systems Ask Youth to Carry Alone | Dr. Maria Fernanda Martinez-Donaus | TEDxBrownsville

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Maria Fernanda Martinez-Donaus, founder of RioProgress, tells the stories of three Rio Grande Valley students who did everything right and still hit a wall: missed deadlines no one explained, financial aid offices that passed them from desk to desk, and the quiet work of becoming your own translator, researcher, and advocate just to access help you’d already been awarded. She argues the question we keep asking is backwards. It isn’t whether students are ready for college. It’s whether the systems around them are ready for students. By the end, one of these stories turns out to be closer to home than it first appears. This talk blends personal storytelling and firsthand experience working alongside students and culminates in a set of concrete recommendations for schools, colleges, and families. Maria Fernanda Martinez-Donaus is a Brownsville, Texas, native, educator, and nonprofit leader dedicated to expanding educational opportunity in the Rio Grande Valley. As the founder and executiv

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