UNLV hosts special WGU ceremony

Dore than 1,500 set for reoional commencement

The walls around the first-grade classroom were filled with pictures depicting both English and Spanish translations.

It was how Blanca Martinez navigated her new environment.

“I went straight into first grade with my sister, but nobody spoke the language (Spanish),” she said. “I remember crying a lot in my classrooms.”

But with the help from and patience exhibited by her teacher, the 6-year-old Martinez became fluent in English in half a year — and developed an appreciation for the teaching career.

“It was the first time I remember wanting to be a teacher, and that never went away for the rest of my life,” Martinez, now 31, said.

She has made similar connections with her own students as a second-grade teacher at Vail Pittman Elementary School in North Las Vegas. And she’s one of more than 1,500 graduates who will attend a regional commencement ceremony Saturday for Western Governors University.

“It really speaks to the transformative power of education,” WGU Nevada Chancellor Spencer Stewart said of Martinez’s story.

WGU Nevada — an affiliate of WGU — will host a master’s and

bachelor’s degree graduation ceremonies at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. at UNLV’ Thomas & Mack Center. It’s the first year that WGU — an online university that features competency-based curriculum — is hosting regional commencement ceremonies.

“This is a such a milestone for our graduates that many of them will travel great distances to be recognized,” Stewart said.

The most recent regional commencement was held in Seattle.

“What has been fascinating to me, having spent the better part of my career in higher education, is instead of hearing the customary calls in the audience of ‘that’s my son, that’s my daughter,’ the difference at our ceremony is that you hear, ‘that’s my mom, that’s my dad, that’s my aunt, that’s my uncle,”’ Stewart said. “It’s very memorable, heartwarming to see these families recognizing the work of parents, the older generation.”

While Martinez doesn’t fit into that group, her educational journey hasn’t been without tribulation.

She was the first in both her immediate and extended family to earn a bachelor’s degree. But because she wasn’t yet a U.S. citizen, and therefore couldn’t pass the required background checks, she had to change course midway through her studies at Nevada State College.

Instead of graduating with her teaching license in hand, she earned a degree in English in 2009.

“I wanted to teach children — I always wanted to be a schoolteacher,” she said. “It reignited my hopes, but it still didn’t seem possible because I wasn’t a citizen.”

Martinez began her path to citizenship in late 2011 when she received a green card through marriage, and received U.S. citizenship three years later. She then entered the Alternative Route to Licensure program offered by the Clark County School District, and began teaching children in February 2016.

She’ll walk across the Thomas & Mack Center stage on Saturday with her master’s degree in teaching kindergarten through eighth grade, and this summer, she’ll begin the process of removing the conditions from her three-year teaching license.

“It feels like a complete 360,” she said. “And it feels like déjà vu for me. I can do the same things for my students that my teachers did for me.”

Contact Natalie Bruzda at nbruzda@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3897. Follow @ Nataliebruzda on Twitter.

Police arrived to conduct a welfare check to their hotel room inside Circus Circus, and security discovered their bodies about 4 p.m. Each person was stabbed multiple times.

result of a murder-suicide, but the early investigation “leans toward” that possibility, Spencer said. Metro was waiting on the Clark County coroner’s office to help answer some questions they had.

“That would tell us at that point if we are working with a murder-suicide or if there is a suspect outstanding,” Spencer said.

A person reported hearing an argument coming from their hotel room about 2 a.m., but it wasn’t clear who was involved, he said. Neither police nor security was called about the disturbance.

There is no active threat to guest safety at the Strip hotel, Spencer said. Police had closed about half of a floor within the hotel, but Circus Circus was otherwise unaffected.

The tour group consisted of multiple people from Los Angeles. The group arrived in Las Vegas about two days ago, he said.

MGM Resorts International, which owns Circus Circus, is cooperating with Metro’s investigation, according to a statement released Friday.

Metro detectives are reviewing security footage.

The coroner’s office will release the identities of the couple once family is notified.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.