Martha Guevera-Tutiven graduated with an associate’s degree in early childhood education from Borough of Manhattan Community College in May 2007. Martha, who came to the U.S. from Ecuador, was active in student government while at BMCC where she also served as a peer mentor, and launched the school’s first Spanish-language magazine.　She also tutored low-income children at Jumpstart, a non-profit organization devoted to early education. The single mother of an elementary-school age child Martha graduated from New York University’s (NYU) Steinhart School of Education in 2009. Through NYU’s Community College Transfer Opportunity Program Martha was awarded a $20,000 scholarship. Martha is a licensed elementary special education teacher, currently working as an Educational Specialist for the New York University/University Settlement Family Child Care Program. Martha seeks to influence and develop educational policy so that all children, regardless of income, can have access to a quality pre-school and elementary education. She was recently accepted to pursue a master’s degree at NYU.