Walking into the broadcast room on her school tour in 2019, senior Abby Marinez came with one goal: to succeed. With a passion for leadership, helping others and media, Martinez took her passions and said ‘yes’ to everything she was offered. 

Martinez came into the broadcast program her freshman year and has taken on several positions throughout her high school career.

“In all four years of high school, I was a part of the broadcast team,” Martinez said. “In the start of my freshman year, I was the only freshman in the class and was given the role as a reporter. Midway through sophomore year until senior year, I was given the position of Anchor. I was also given the executive producer position in my senior year, which allows me to completely look over the staff and the class as a whole.”

In her time in the program, Martinez changed the Wolfcast program in many ways, including the studio they film in every morning. 

“We completely rebranded the whole Wolfcast, from the intro to the segment spaces and our graphics,” Martinez said.  “We then did a complete overhaul of the set and with lots of hard work with the booster parents and Garcia, we were able to change the entire look of the studio to fit our school. With the upgrade of the studio, we made sure our content was meaningful and that we were very intentional with everything we do.”

Martinez has been awarded various on air individual and group awards through the broadcast program. Her freshman, junior and senior year, the team was awarded first place on-air team at the UIL ILPC awards. In Martinez’s senior year she also received several individual awards, including UIL’s Producer of the Year.

“Receiving this reward was extremely exciting, but also helped me know the potential I was able to reach,” Martinez said. “My parents, friends and Mr. Garcia were all there and it was truly a special moment. I’m so grateful for everyone who has pushed me to reach my goals and believed in me.” 

On top of broadcast, Martinez was involved in various activities and jobs, all while keeping up with her grades, advanced placement classes and honor societies.

“I was on a studio dance team all of high school, the PALS program, a part time job at HEB and then Shack 512,” Martinez said. “In my senior year, I started a photography business and began taking senior, family and just about any photo opportunity that came my way. I took lots of my friends’ senior photos and was actually able to create a whole side business off of these photo shoots where I deepened my passion for being behind the camera.”

Martinez took every opportunity she was given, but had to find ways to balance everything before she got too deep into everything she was a part of.

“Balancing everything is not easy all the time,” Martinez said. “I have learned a lot of time management skills through these programs and just making sure I get what I need to get done on time. It definitely can be a lot starting my day with broadcasting early in the morning at 7:00 a.m. and not ending my day until after dance and work, while also trying to keep up with relationships but I wouldn’t change it for any reason.”

Martinez said she has made connections with different programs and people throughout her broadcast career that have allowed her to see different career paths in the industry and ways to pursue her passions.

“In my last year on broadcast, we had the privilege to go to New York City for five days and there we just got a lot of memorable experiences that I would not have gotten anywhere else,” Martinez said. “We toured every major news station in New York City. We got the privilege and honor of watching World News Tonight being produced and actually meeting David Muir, going to GMA and talking with Michael Strahan and meeting people in various positions at every station.” 

After high school, Martinez will be attending The University of Missouri for broadcast journalism to pursue a degree in the broadcast media field. While it is far, she says she knows the foundation Cedar Park has built for her has prepared her. 

“Throughout my high school career I have made lots of connections and learned plenty of life long goals to take with me through college,” Martinez said. “I know Mizzou is the perfect place to pursue my journalism degree.”