Instructor: Andria Martinez, West Region Field Director for Grow America
Learn With Andria In: ED 101 (x) and ED 201 (x)
“I think people get lost in the numbers [in class], and they’re trying to get the answer right, but I try to bring it back to real life. Why do you need to know this? How does this actually relate to your job? What would you actually use in the real world?”
An early start with support and room for growth
Andria Martinez knows exactly what it’s like to sit in a Grow America class room seat. Before she was an instructor for the organization’s courses, she was a student herself. Now, Martinez had come full circle, trading her student notebook for an instructor’s position and helping guide the next generation of professionals through the same transformative journey she’d experienced firsthand.
She remembers, “In 2011 we were teaching in person, we still had overhead projectors, and we hadn’t ever done any online classes. You showed up with these giant boxes of materials, books, and paperwork. I remember it being very nerve wracking…I knew the material but I hadn’t ever taught it to somebody else”
She received a lot of training and support from her supervisors, and now Andria’s been teaching Grow America courses in economic development for nearly 15 years. At this point, she says it’s second nature. “I have so much experience, so many deals, so many real life examples that I bring to my teaching that I know it like the back of my hand.”
Challenge: Meeting students where they are
As an instructor, Andria strives to meet students where they are. Many people who participate in her classes haven’t been in a classroom for quite some time, and she fully recognizes that it’s an investment of both time and money for them to be there.
“You don’t know what you don’t know,” says Andria about arriving at class, “But then after you take the course you do know what you don’t know.” This allows people who complete the class to understand the right questions to ask and the right partners to bring into the deals.
“Grow America’s classes are really good at showing that there’s a lot of players involved” she says, “and you need to bring other people in and other departments that you work with as well as other experts.”
Key impacts: Real-world application, a wealth of resources, and a long-standing reputation
Andria’s commitment to Grow America’s courses and her students is clear. She’s passionate about giving students real world examples and the right tools to take with them to use long after the class is over.
- Real-life examples for real-world application: “It gives them that real-life example and scenario. So they have an example that they can think of when they are actually doing the work. We’re teaching you how to underwrite in a very practical way with actual case studies, which are unique.”
- A wealth of resources: “We give a lot of resources. People can refer back to the lecture notes.” Andria initially took the course while with a previous employer, and she says, “When I spread my first deal and was doing my first underwriting on a microloan, I used all the material.”
- A long-standing reputation: “We’re not the only game in town, but I think we’re the oldest, so a lot of it is reputation. We have a very good reputation out there for what we do.”
Grow America trainings: Professional support for real-world deals
Andria truly focuses on bringing practical experience to the classroom setting. She also emphasizes that the numbers in the class represent tangible concepts that help students understand how to interpret an answer correctly to support them in their work outside of the classroom.
For in-depth courses that prepare you for real-world applications, check out Grow America’s Training programs and register for upcoming courses today.