The success of Melanie Martinez, sophomore student at TCNJ majoring in Psychology with a minor in Chinese, is a testament to true passion, ambition, and determination. From balancing five on-campus jobs to participating in a service project in Taiwan, Martinez has fused several passions together with one goal in mind: to help others.
Martinez’s passion for psychology stems from her own familial experiences. “I chose the psychology major because I’m the child of immigrant parents,” she explains. “A lot of times when it comes to feelings and emotions that are difficult to describe and to quantify, I would have a hard time talking about it. I remember that whenever I would feel really upset or I’d get into a certain headspace, I always felt like I was a problem, and like that was my fault in some way.
As I got older and I saw other people experience that too, I wanted to be someone that made sure other people didn’t feel that way. A lot of adults who come from other countries, or grow up with certain mentalities, don’t really get an outlet throughout their lives and are stuck in that mindset that there’s a problem or something is wrong with you, when that’s not the case. I wanted to see how I could help other people like that. Everyone deserves the chances to talk about how they feel.”
Reflecting upon her favorite experiences within the psychology program at TCNJ, Martinez highlights an assignment given to her in PSY 213: Psychological Disorders. Students were asked to select a fictional character from any book, television series, or movie to diagnose and design a treatment plan for. Martinez chose the character Joe Goldberg from the Netflix original series You, played by actor Penn Badgley. “I binge-watched the show and I was taking all my notes. When I was writing, I was trying to get into his mind. How would he view this? How would he see this?” she recounts.
When asked what she enjoys most about her major, she points to the fact that everyone she meets within the program has a different path: “I think all the people you meet [is my favorite aspect] because everyone either has a second major, has a different minor, or just has a different path that they’re going to do. Not everyone goes to psychology having the same plan and a lot of people use it in other ways I never expected.”
Martinez has carved a unique path of her own through the addition of her minor in Chinese. She began studying Mandarin in high school, even working to found her school’s chapter of the Chinese National Honor Society. She remembers initially struggling in her classes––which is exactly why she pursued the minor in college. “I so badly wanted to leave. It was not a good time at first. But after four years, I ended up falling in love with it. I want to keep learning, I want to do as much as I can to succeed and improve my fluency. I find it so fascinating and so amazing that this is something that I struggled with so much at first and now I’ve fallen in love with it.”
When asked what she plans to do and if those plans involve fusing her two passions together, Martinez explains that while her career aspirations and goals revolve around psychology, her passion for learning about other cultures will enhance her practice: “I do want to be a clinical psychologist. However, I do want to integrate Chinese and Spanish into it.” As a psychologist, she explains that “[t]he goal is always to make it as easy as possible for the person to open up to you and speak to you.
A lot of people who come from other countries and immigrate to America come from different viewpoints, different kinds of families. We have a lot of taboos in our cultures, and sometimes it’s very difficult to communicate that with someone who didn’t grow up that way and doesn’t see the unspoken rules, see the little hints, see the implications, the feelings. I really want to help people who come from these cultures.”
When Martinez is on campus, you can find her at one of five job locations: in the World Languages and Cultures department, in the Tutoring Center, in the Library auditorium, in Travers Hall, or in her Oral Proficiency classroom. To highlight one of Martinez’s many jobs, she works as an Oral Proficiency leader, helping students taking CHI 151 build their fluency and speaking skills. She works with a group of eight students once a week, building engaging activities and teaching enriching lessons. Martinez credits her professors for providing her with the skills to take on such a job: “I’m an amalgamation of all my previous teachers. Every time I’m taught something new, I get to practice it with them. I try to do things that my previous teachers have taught me, or make my own spin on it.”
The best part of the experience is watching her students grow just as she did when she first began studying the language. “I remember the first week, some of them were struggling to get a sentence out. Now, they’re making longer sentences, and making them more complex, and building and building. I’m so proud.”
Another major highlight within Martinez’s time at TCNJ is her experience studying abroad in Taiwan through the Huayu BEST (Bilingual Exchanges of Selected Talent) Scholarship Program. This trip allows TCNJ students like Martinez to practice Mandarin and to help local students practice English through The Hands Together Project. Reflecting on this community service aspect of the program, Martinez states, “The cultural exchange aspect of the program allowed us to travel to a high school in the area. There, we were matched with a student, we made tiramisu together, and in the process, exchanged learning and language skills.” She happily exclaims, “I feel that I’ve grown a lot. I have a lot of better listening skills. I got to learn so much more about Taiwanese culture. I’ve become more independent. I’m not scared to venture on my own. It was really cool and you get to make some relationships that you never think you’re gonna make.”
Evidently, Martinez has accomplished so much in so little time. When asked what she is most proud of, she emphasizes her efforts to help others: “I think what I’d be most proud of would be being able to be a bridge for different people.”
“I like being able to help people because we’re all just trying to grow. We’re all trying to do our best and to get through the day, get through the year, get through whatever we’re going through. All I can really do is offer what I’ve learned and hope that someone else can also do the same for another person—that way, we all just get better and better.”
– Talia Verrecchio ’23, ’24