Upper Columbia Academy: After a scramble, Paola Gómez Martinez found the place she was meant to be

To hear the full story, it’s a wonder that senior Paola Gómez Martinez is a member of the Upper Columbia Academy graduating class.

Gómez Martinez was born and raised in Honduras, only spending a week or two at a time in the United States during breaks. She applied to Upper Columbia Academy in August before what would be her freshman year was set to start because one of her friends had already been accepted to UCA but didn’t want to go alone.

But the school was full at that point, and Gómez Martinez didn’t get in. Her friend and her friend’s mother traveled to UCA the week before school started and talked with a staff member about Gómez Martinez. The staff member arranged an interview with her the Thursday before the first day of school.

That second interview had a better outcome, and Gómez Martinez was accepted. The next day, she started the process of obtaining her F-1 student visa. Gómez Martinez said setting up an appointment with the American Embassy usually takes months, but this time, they told her to come back on Tuesday.

During the appointment, she was asked when school starts. “Yesterday,” she replied. “Let’s make this an emergency visa,” the employee said, telling Gómez Martinez to pick up her visa the next day.

Just like that, Gómez Martinez and her family were landing in Spokane the Friday of the first week of school.

“We know that it was God opening doors, because there’s no way that could have ever happened that fast,” she said. “I definitely had not processed anything. I came here, and the first few weeks went by, and I was still processing the fact that I was in a different country. My parents went back home. I was by myself, pretty much, in a new place.”

Gómez Martinez said it was initially a bit difficult for her to fit in because of her accent, but she soon found a group of friends who helped her feel more confident when speaking English.

During her time at UCA, Gómez Martinez has played soccer, both midfield and goalie, and has sung with the Choraliers and the school’s vocal octet. She and her fellow choir students went to Washington, D.C., in April for a week of singing and sightseeing.

Academically, Gómez Martinez enjoys her advanced placement calculus class as well as anatomy and physiology. She enjoys both teachers, and has a lot of friends in calculus, which makes the class fun. She also enjoys the hands-on experiences she gets in anatomy and physiology.

On top of athletics and academics, Gómez Martinez is now in her second year working as a resident assistant. This year, she’s kept an eye on the freshmen.

“Freshmen themselves, they just have something in them that they make my day every single day,” she said. “They’re so much fun to hang out with.”

Gómez Martinez said a lot of her best memories from UCA involve simply hanging out with friends. She was part of the school’s associated student body her junior year and enjoyed creating decorations for the Hawaii-themed school party. There’s also Class Night, during which each grade competes in different games, although Gómez Martinez said all the grades cheer each other on.

After finishing her time at UCA, Gómez Martinez wants to help others, and is debating pursuing bioengineering or nursing.

“I started researching about it, and I found it so interesting that bioengineers, many of them work with artificial organs and creating different things that can help people, like a product that will help replace an organ that doesn’t work in your body, or even a prosthetic leg,” she said. “It’s so interesting that I was like, ‘I would like to do that, design new stuff, being able to help people.’ ”