Inspired by the new year, then-Illinois State University freshman Alexandra Martil resolved to become even more involved on campus during their second semester.
That was in January 2020.
“I was revitalized,” Martil said. “I remember going to Winter Fest and talking to executive board members from RSOs (registered student organizations) I was interested in. I was so excited and so ready to step up and get involved.”
Staying true to their resolution, Martil attended a handful of meetings. Then spring break arrived.
“We left, and it all kind of floated away,” Martil said.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced classes online, and Martil transferred to a community college for their sophomore year. They lived with their family in Huntley while attending college virtually and working a nearby retail job.
“I wouldn’t recommend that, but that’s what I did,” Martil said. “I know a handful of people who never returned to school, which is really sad because I feel like they really could have done something very exciting. But what brought me back to ISU, honestly, was the support system that I had here.”
In their first seven months at Illinois State, Martil made friends through their involvement with the Big Red Marching Machine, the Honors College, and as a medical laboratory science (MLS) major.
“It felt like I was returning home by transferring back to ISU for my junior year,” Martil said. “So, I chose ISU twice.”
This May, Martil will earn a bachelor’s degree from Illinois State.
More than a year after leaving Illinois State during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Martil returned in 2021 with the same drive to get involved along with a new aspiration: to join a sorority.
“I felt like it was out of character for me,” Martil said. “When I thought about joining a sorority, it was based on my relationship with womanhood and how I viewed my identity as a woman. I’ve never felt entirely connected to womanhood, largely because I’d never had a meaningful and profound female relationship in my life.”
Martil, who grew up with two brothers, said they were primarily raised by their father while their mother earned the family’s primary income by working six nights a week, and sleeping days, as a cardiac telemetry nurse.
“My mom did so much for us and so much for that hospital in her community,” Martil said. “I really admire how she stepped up for health care. She is my health care hero. But my dad and my brothers were the people I interacted with every day during my childhood, so I was kind of lacking that motherly or sisterly figure in my life.
“When I came on to campus, I realized that was something that I lacked, and it was something that I really wanted to improve—my relationship with womanhood and my identity as a woman, and to also connect with women. I wanted to meet more women and really feel empowered as a woman.”
Martil found exactly what they needed in Illinois State’s chapter of the Omega Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. Its philanthropic mission to raise awareness of violence against women made the sorority stand out.
“It impacted all the interactions I had with the sisters from then on, remembering that these women are here to bring awareness and also combat and speak out against violence against women,” Martil said.
They joined and became a leader within Omega Phi Beta. They also added a public health minor while enrolled in Illinois State’s “fantastic” MLS program.
“I always knew I was going to pursue health care as a passion, and that comes from being in a family that’s all in health care,” said Martil who arrived at Illinois State with a certified nursing assistant (CNA) certification from high school. “I found that I really love learning about health care as a system, but not necessarily bedside patient care.”
By adding the public health minor, Martil is now applying MLS tools to considering how systematic access, or lack thereof, to preventative medicine impacts individual health.
“A lot of blood work will cross a medical laboratory scientist’s bench,” Martil said. “A patient’s specimen can tell you they have cardiovascular disease. But my public health classes challenge us in thinking, ‘Why are they getting sick like that in the first place? Is there something about their habits? Is there something about their community and having access to a healthy diet?’ Those are important questions.”
In addition to their academic work and with Omega Phi Beta, Martil participated in a 10-week internship with Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s office in Washington, D.C., served as programming chair for the Asian Pacific American Coalition, and was appointed an ex officio for the Student Government Association. They also participated in a profound alternative Spring Break trip to the Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth, and Reconciliation.
With graduation approaching, Martil is now interviewing for MLS jobs and plans to eventually pursue a public health master’s program. They’re interested in working for a government office someday. Whatever the future holds, Martil is determined to positively impact the health care system and the people they surround themselves with.
“I know I’m going to build on the foundation that I gained at ISU and grow as a public health professional,” Martil said. “I want to balance that with continuing to be involved in my community and continuing to grow as a leader for my sorority. And I’m looking forward to becoming an ISU alum.”
This story is one of a series of profiles on Redbirds who are graduating this May. For more information about how Illinois State is celebrating commencement, visit the Graduation Services website.
