Pedro Martinez: From the barrio to the redwoods and beyond

When he’s not repairing asphalt, pouring concrete, or doing demolition, Pedro Martinez is working to reach the university’s sustainability goals. He can be spotted driving around campus in the white facilities recycling truck. 

Martinez is 56 and works as a heavy equipment operator at Cal Poly Humboldt’s facilities management and has worked in facilities for 10 years. He, along with a partner and a couple of student workers, handle all of campus’ recycling and E-waste.

“There’s five parts to being a heavy equipment operator,” Martinez said. “One is food waste, one is e-waste, another is surplus, another is green waste and recycling.”

Martinez and Morgan King, a climate action analyst for the Office of Sustainability at Cal Poly Humboldt, work sporadically throughout the school year on projects like the annual donation dash, where facilities workers collect donatable goods during move-out week on campus. 

King believes Martinez deserves more credit than he gets for all the work he does on campus.

“I highly respect Pedro and his background, his wealth of experiences, diversity of experiences, it’s really amazing,” King said. “Pretty much everyday at 4:30, I see Pedro walk by my office and it’s always a highlight cause he always turns and waves and smiles. You know that just reflects his nature. He’s definitely a shining light here at facilities.”

“In my neighborhood, we had a lot of smart young men and women who for some reason or another, they joined the gang and decided to neglect their education, as I did.” — Pedro Martinez

Martinez is originally from Pico Union, a historic neighborhood in Los Angeles, west of Downtown LA, where he was one of nine kids. 

“In my neighborhood, we had a lot of smart young men and women who for some reason or another, they joined the gang and decided to neglect their education, as I did,” Martinez said. 

Martinez left Los Angeles to escape the gang lifestyle that he found himself in as a teenager. After surviving five gunshots, he left his neighborhood and traveled the country, eventually finding work in the California Conservation Corps (CCC), a paid program to help young adults develop job skills with an emphasis on environmental projects.

“I left LA due to the situation that I put myself in. Nobody put me into that situation, I put myself into that situation,” Martinez said. 

Martinez eventually found himself in need of a college degree in order to advance in his career at the CCC. Having learned about Humboldt County through visiting a friend in Pelican Bay State Prison, Martinez decided to attend College of the Redwoods (CR).

After graduating from CR with an associate’s degree in administration of justice, Martinez joined the Peace Corps and was stationed in Botswana, Africa as an HIV/AIDS education coordinator. He worked in Nata Village for two years, where he helped young students tell the difference between HIV and AIDS. 

After Botswana, Martinez moved back to Humboldt to find work and pursue a bachelor’s degree in social work. After landing a job as a custodian at Cal Poly Humboldt, he enrolled in classes. After 20 years of working on and off — one year working then taking classes the next — Martinez graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social work in 2021. 

As for why Martinez decided to study social work, he said, “I think that falls back all the way to the LAPD officers who continuously would talk to me and say, ‘this isn’t the life you need to be living.’ ” 

Martinez uses his degree in social work daily, as much of his work involves communicating with admin, students and faculty throughout the different departments on campus.

“I like working with people, I’m good at it. I like to connect,” Martinez said. “That’s what I’ve been doing all my life is connecting people to whatever resources they need or whatever help they need.”

Although moving to Humboldt County was an adjustment for Martinez because it was a predominantly white, rural community, his extensive life experience made the transition easier.

“Adjusting your life to be around poisonous snakes, wild animals, and people with different languages, you can survive transitioning into Humboldt County,” Martinez said. “I was exposed to the gang life way early but then I was exposed to outside the gang life and then I was exposed to a lot of other things that just made things a little bit easier to transition into Humboldt County and do what I needed to do. And I like it. This is a great place to live and a great place to learn.”

Despite Martinez’s affinity for Humboldt, this is not the end of his journey. 

“After I’m done, I want to leave this place. I want to go and learn more and get out and do something. I don’t plan on staying here for the rest of my life,” Martinez said.

Martinez also knows four languages: English, Spanish, Dutch, Setswana and is learning Russian. He said he is curious by nature and a “save the animals advocate.”

“After I’m done, I want to leave this place. I want to go and learn more and get out and do something. I don’t plan on staying here for the rest of my life.” — Pedro Martinez

He has plans of rejoining the Peace Corps, volunteering to do social work in Eastern Europe, as well as to write a book about his life.

“The journey here in Humboldt County is coming to an end and I loved it. I had a great time but life isn’t just here. Life happens outside of here, just like it happened outside the park, outside the California Conservation Corps, outside the Peace Corps, outside my education,” Martinez said. “It doesn’t end here, there’s just so many things you can do.”