Fresno State Students Win First Scholarship Honoring Poet

Nearly 10 years after losing one of their brightest stars, Fresno State's English Department celebrated a milestone that transforms tragedy into hope. Two graduate students just received the first Mireyda Barraza Martinez Memorial Scholarships, awards that will now honor the late poet's memory every year, forever.

Barraza Martinez grew up as the daughter of farmworkers in east Porterville and became a powerful voice for undocumented students and her community. She earned her bachelor's degree in English literature in 2014 and was just one semester away from her Master of Fine Arts when she died in a car accident in 2016 at age 29.

But her story didn't end there. Dozens of community members, including her family and fellow writers, began making small monthly and annual donations. After nearly a decade of these steady contributions, the College of Arts and Humanities officially endowed the scholarship fund in June 2023.

This year, creative writing students Stefan Leiva and Angelina Leaños became the first recipients. For Leiva, a third-year fiction student who teaches writing courses on campus, the award came at a perfect moment. "It put things in perspective, recognizing my own accomplishments of the past three years, which I don't really recognize often enough," he said.

Leiva's own journey mirrors the persistence that built this scholarship. After his first MFA application was rejected, he spent three years working retail and discovering his identity as a transgender person through writing. His second application succeeded, and he's now completing his thesis.

The Ripple Effect

Adam Goldberg, director of development for the College of Arts and Humanities, perfectly captured what makes this scholarship special. "Our legacy as humans is rarely shaped by a single grand gesture," he said. "Instead, it's built gradually, piece by piece, over time."

That's exactly what happened here. No wealthy donor wrote one big check. Instead, a community that loved Barraza Martinez gave what they could, month after month, year after year. Their collective commitment ensured that her passion for writing and advocacy for marginalized students would live on.

Now these scholarships will support aspiring writers in perpetuity, each recipient carrying forward the spirit of a poet who believed in community, activism, and the transformative power of words.

A decade of small acts of remembrance became something eternal.