Bekah Martinez is taking a moment to share her accomplishments of finishing her college degree while parenting two young kiddos.
Martinez, 25, revealed to Instagram followers earlier this month how she is entering her “very last semester” of her undergraduate program at the University of California Irvine.
“It’s been a slow, hard eight year journey, and I’m so close to the finish line,” she started off her post to Instagram. “I first started at UC Irvine in 2013, fresh out of high school. I had plans to be an elementary school teacher or an art teacher, and began pursuing my BFA. I dropped out in 2015.”
“I was really depressed and felt so alone. I moved back to my hometown to live with my parents and hit the refresh button,” continues Martinez.
“Over the next few years I took classes at a couple different community colleges, applied to transfer to UCLA’s art program, and got rejected.”
“Then I went on The Bachelor,” says Martinez, who was featured on season 22 of the reality series with Bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr.
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“Then I got pregnant after dating my boyfriend for three months,” she adds, recalling conceiving her first child, daughter Ruth Ray De La Luz, now 23 months, with boyfriend Grayston Leonard. “Having my first little one on the way gave me a huge boost of motivation.”
In the post, Martinez shares a throwback photo of herself and with her baby bump in 2018 when she re-enrolled at UCI. She says she then “finished that semester 8 months pregnant with Ruth.”
“I took a semester off to give birth and take care of my newborn. I went back when Ruth was 7 months old,” she recalls. “Then I got pregnant with Franklin. The pandemic happened; I finished out the spring semester taking classes on zoom at 39 weeks pregnant.”
“So finally…here we are. 2021. I have two classes left, I’ve gained two babies along the way, and I’ll be able to say I did it. This spring I’ll have my college degree,” concludes Martinez. “I’m so damn proud.”
Martinez, who welcomed her second child, Franklin James, in June, answered fan questions on Instagram last summer, recalling the initial struggle of becoming pregnant at the early stages of her relationship, saying it was “so f—ing hard.”
“Wanted to break up a million times. it sucked,” she wrote at the time. “I felt guilty for wanting to end the pregnancy initially. i worried my child’s parents would hate each other. but we made it. and came out stronger than ever.”
In addition, she also shared how back-to-back pregnancies affected her.
“It’s nice to have *just* gone through the newborn stage and stuff last year because i feel used to it and prepared and i still have all the gear,” Martinez continued. “And i’m hopeful they’ll be super close with each other as they grow up together only a year apart :)”
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