Nina Martinez

Storyteller & Copy Editor

Austin, Texas

who?

Nina Martinez is a Tejana storyteller and copy editor based out of Austin, Texas.

Raised in the sweet town of Sugar Land, Texas, Martinez developed a love for history and storytelling, which led her to her love of writing. Martinez is a recent graduate of St. Edward’s University in Austin where she earned her BA in Writing and Rhetoric, specializing in journalism.

During her four years in college, she implemented her passions in her work, chronicling and working with locals to tell their stories. Along with reporting at her university’s newspaper, she also served as editor-in-chief and a copy editor for the publication.

She learned from the talented writers and editors at Texas Monthly as an editorial intern, reporting and writing two state-based stories and shadowing the copyediting team, and interviewing one woman who played an essential part in Texas History.

When she’s not writing, she's playing with her sweet pup, Fitzgerald (after F. Scott Fitzgerald), or riding her bike down the streets of Austin.

published works

Five Students Discover Their Passions on the Hilltop with Support from Peers and Professors

Creatives, helpers and athletes alike gather on the hilltop to hone their crafts and discover career paths that allow them to thrive. While some students found St. Edward's right in their backyard, and others traveled far from home to begin their careers, each Hilltopper shares a passion for making a difference in their communities. From interning in local art spaces to researching yeast strands in the lab and witnessing firsthand how Austin's mental health professionals serve the city, here are...

From El Salvador to Austin, Alumna Katia Rivera ‘25 Prepares to Improve the Systems Serving our Communities

Katia Rivera knows what it looks like when a community is transformed. From a new road cut through red dirt, a well where there wasn’t one, or a house lit by electricity instead of candles, she witnessed it all while growing up in El Salvador, and it left an impression she has never let go of. Now, with a Rotary Global Grant Scholarship and a place in the Brussels School of Governance’s Master of Arts in Global Security and Strategy program, she’s preparing to do that work herself.Rivera came to...

Meet the Alumni Turning a St. Edward’s Education Into Impactful Careers

From Austin to across the country, St. Edward’s alumni are turning their passions into meaningful careers.Whether designing for public spaces, advancing in medicine, serving patients, shaping major events or advocating for their communities, these Hilltoppers are building on the experiences, mentorship and sense of purpose they found on the hilltop. Meet five alumni putting their education into action and making an impact in their fields.As a first-generation student, Daniella Gonzalez sought ou...

17th March 2026

Meet Five Hilltop Students Turning Passion Into Purpose

Before Keren Ruano began college, she turned to Assistant Professor of Nursing Dr. Katy Allen to answer her questions about being a Nursing major at St. Edward’s University.“I was honored to receive the Catherine W. Allen Memorial Nursing Endowed Scholarship, a fund she established in memory of her mother,” Ruano shared. “Receiving support from a scholarship connected to someone so dedicated to nursing has been incredibly meaningful to me. I am truly grateful for her encouragement and for the in...

17th March 2026

Education Innovator Marcela Andrés '05 on AI, Community and Leading with Humanity

Austin-native Marcela Andrés ‘05 grew up with the hilltop in her backyard. Raised in North Austin and a child of immigrants, Marcela learned she was a little different than everyone else at her school.Instead of frijoles and gorditas at lunchtime, Marcela was exposed to pizza in the cafeteria. Kids often commented on her accent on the bus, which eventually taught her to embrace her identity as a Cuban-American-Mexican.Community was essential to Marcela’s growth and success, which she often found...

17th March 2026

How the Hilltop Fosters Expression and Civic Engagement

For decades, the hilltop has been a place of expression — expression through art, music, fashion, religion, etc. In February, two university groups created platforms for students, faculty and staff to express themselves through music and spoken word, reminding the community of the power of their voices.On September 17, 2025, the Kozmetsky Center for Civic Engagement moved its headquarters to the newly renovated and historic Carriage House, which was once a home for music classes on the hilltop....

17th March 2026

St. Edward’s Alumni Love Story: From Student-Athletes to Newlyweds

In 2018, Michael (Mikee) Chaplin ‘21 was working weekends as a cashier in the Hunt Dining Hall during his sophomore year. He frequently saw the volleyball team enter the dining hall for meals. One day, Mikee asked some members of the team if they would introduce him to a certain player, Estefania (Steffy) Walls ‘21, now Steffy Chaplin.“They were no help,” Mikee laughed.But one day, Steffy walked up to the grill and ordered food. Mikee didn’t waste the opportunity. The two shared some banter, and...

17th March 2026

Alum Matilda Sorić ‘23 Turns Her Love for Math and Data Into a Career in Sports Analytics

After graduating from high school, Matilda Sorić ‘23 knew she wanted a career in sports and data science. Sorić is a three-time Croatian National Team player at the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) European Championships and a six-time Croatian National Champion.She began playing basketball for Croatia’s A1 League at just 14 years old, where she was a two-time silver medalist and a four-time U19 Croatian Championship gold medalist. Knowing she couldn’t build this kind of career at home...

17th March 2026

How Hillhops at St. Edward’s Brings Texas Craft Beer Archives to Life

The Toker Archives Reading Room is a special place in the Munday Library, safely housing the university’s collections from the beginning of the school’s history. Shelves display memorabilia from when the Dallas Cowboys hosted training camp on the hilltop, clothing from St. Edward’s High School, stamps from Vatican City, and a vinyl jazz collection.Among the archives is The Texas Craft Brewing Collection, which preserves and collects stories from Texas brewers to share with future generations.In...

11th November 2025

Celebrating Our First-Generation Scholars

Being first-generation isn’t an unknown experience on the hilltop, but it doesn’t make the journey any less daunting. Nearly one-third of the St. Edward’s population is the first in their family to attend college and earn a degree — including President Montserrat Fuentes. Nearly half of our incoming students are first-generation students, and this year, St. Edward’s closed the retention gap for first-year students year over year. First-gen and continuing-generation students were retained at the...

24th October 2025

How Transfer Student-Athlete Suni Davis '26 Found Her Team and Her Future

Fort Worth native Suni Davis ‘26 transferred to St. Edward’s University in Fall 2025. After spending the beginning of her college career as a business engineering student and a student athlete for the Colorado School of Mines, Davis was ready for a change.Davis’s experience in Colorado helped her learn what she wanted, not only in a career, but for the remainder of her college experience. Coming from a college that focuses solely on engineering, Davis learned from classes and internships that sh...

24th October 2025

St. Edward’s Math Major Excels in NASA Research and Data Science

Before pursuing a degree in Mathematics, Chloe Roque ‘26, wanted to be a forensic scientist. She joined the robotics club in middle school, where she found her love for puzzles. But being from Houston, Texas, widely known as “Space City”, Roque woke up one day and acknowledged her love for math and her interest in aerospace engineering.“I decided my senior year of high school (that) aerospace was something I was really interested in. I always dreamed of NASA,” Roque said.After receiving a full s...

24th October 2025

How a St. Edward’s Alum is Redefining Austin’s Indie Music Scene

After completing two years at ACC, San Antonio native Chandler Christopher ‘22 transferred to St. Edward’s University as a Global Studies major at the beginning of COVID-19. Prior to ACC, Christopher took a gap year backpacking and working across the South Pacific region and Uganda; he even briefly considered joining the Peace Corps.As he started his junior year online, he juggled his job as a server and began exploring his entrepreneurial interests by interviewing artists.These interviews allow...

St. Edward's University • 19th May 2025

How Transferring to the Hilltop Rekindled Sam McFarland’s Love for Film

St. Edward’s University was the first college Sam McFarland '25 toured as a kid from Houston. After spending two semesters at the University of Colorado Boulder as a film studies major, McFarland grew tired of the cold, so he returned to the state and enrolled as a transfer student studying Communication on the hilltop. McFarland always had a knack for creating, and he felt sure that he’d be in a career that reflected his creativity. “Game of Thrones” inspired him to make short films. But after...

St. Edward's University • 9th May 2025

Texas Ecology Course Prepares Future Naturalists to Protect the State’s Environments

Associate Professor of Environmental Science Amy Concillio designed the Texas Ecology course for the Environmental Science and Policy major to guide students to take the information from class and apply it to their future careers. This was not the first time Dr. Concillio developed a course inspired by her own academic journey—where she gained a lot of knowledge, but lacked the guidance of how to plug these skills into the real world—she previously created the Natural Resources Conservation and...

St. Edward's University • 8th May 2025

Birdwatching and Environmental Science Thrive at St. Edward’s

The current president of the club, Iman Haddad ‘27, picked up the torch from Conner and Postiglione after getting involved with the club and hearing about it through Fletcher’s Ornithology course. Through birding, students like Haddad have gained invaluable leadership skills—she also learned that her favorite birds are water birds, specifically the Roseate Spoonbill. Aside from gaining knowledge and an appreciation for the local bird species in Central Texas and beyond, Dr. Fletcher’s larger goa...

St. Edward's University • 15th April 2025

A Career in Bee Conservation

Like many students, Gabriella Pardee, Ph.D., started her journey at the University of Toledo with an “undecided” major. After a year and a half of exploring a variety of fields, Pardee took an Introduction to Environmental Science course which spearheaded her career in ecological research. Her newly declared major in environmental science required students to have two credits of a second language. After studying Spanish for most of her life, she decided to add the language as a second major, pre...

St. Edward's University • 15th April 2025

This Wild Basin Internship Opened Career Paths in Environmental Science

Growing up as a Girl Scout sparked Maya Soojhai's '23 interest in the outdoors; and after taking an environmental science class her senior year of high school, Soojhai was ready to explore the field closer. From a small high school in San Antonio, she was drawn to St. Edward’s University for its campus, class sizes and ideal distance from home.Like many students who started in 2019, COVID-19 interrupted Soojhai’s semester and her plans to study abroad; but it also pushed her to spend more time o...

St. Edward's University • 11th April 2025

Ecological Research and Fieldwork Through the Hook Fellowship

Allan Hook, Ph.D. spent 25 years teaching evolutionary biology at St. Edward’s University. His time researching and exploring the world led to multiple bylines of published research and three species of insects — Nemomydas hooki (fly), and two, solitary wasps—Solerella hooki and Pseudopolis hooki. In 2007, while at St. Edward's University, he roamed into the office of Career Manager Rosemary Guzman, where he met his future wife. After multiple dates, Hook finally won her over doing what he does...

St. Edward's University • 11th April 2025

St. Edward's & Wild Basin: A Continued Partnership in Support of Environmental Education and Research in Austin

Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve is Austin’s first nature preserve, founded in 1976, that protects 227 acres of the Texas Hill Country located right off of Capital of Texas Highway and just 10 miles from St. Edward’s University.In the 1970s, seven trailblazing women, known as the “Founding Mothers of Wild Basin” from the environmental group Now or Never, sought to preserve a local area to educate young students, train teachers, and host science classes. After the city drafted the master plan for W...

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