Breaking Free Raymond Martinez

Raymond Martinez faced many personal challenges that made high school very tough. Despite his difficulties, he took the advice of his guidance counselor and applied to LaGuardia, knowing that enrolling in a community college was a good way to discover if college was for him. For Raymond, LaGuardia turned out to be a perfect match. With the help of a $1,000 LaGuardia Foundation scholarship from W.A.C. Lighting, Raymond flourished in his new academic environment. Now 19 years old and in his third semester, the once shy young man came out of his shell. Raymond joined the honor society, took up photography and the guitar, earned a 3.6 GPA and worked 100 hours as a volunteer on the U.S. Senate campaign of Peter Koo, a Queens businessman who is also a generous donor to the LaGuardia Foundation scholarship fund. “Throughout my life, I have been struggling to be where I am at this point,” Raymond explains. “I never expected to see myself in college as an honor student.” Last June, Raymond was moved to tears when he met Tai Wang, the co-founder and vice president of W.A.C. Lighting. “Thanks to the W.A.C. Lighting Scholarship, being in college is one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”