Hometown: Ankeny, Iowa
Astrological sign: Virgo
Hogwarts house: Gryffindor
Sexual preference: Bisexual
Alexandrea Martin is a gumbo of interests and quirky traits. In this year alone, she has taken up many leadership roles within the university. She has received Hate Zone Training for her position as a Resident Assistant, and she will attend a conference at Iowa State in March on race and ethnicity. She also has plans to be an RA again next year.
“A big part of my life and and my job and my role at the University of Iowa is to promote equity, equality, and nondiscriminition.”
-Alexandrea Martin
Year: Sophomore
Majors: International Studies (Human Rights), Anthropology (Gender and Culture)
Minor: Pyschology
Leadership positions: RA, GRL Programming Chair, GRL New Member Educator.
Hobbies: Reading, journaling, poetry, yoga, working out
She also strives to promote equality at the University of Iowa through her participation in the multicultural greek organization called Gamma Rho Lambda. As stated above, a few positions that she holds within the sorority are Programming Chair and New Member Educator. This progressive sorority strives to create a safe space for typically LGBTQ+ students, both graduates and undergraduates, that want to also participate in greek life. Though the sorority was founded in 2003 and has various chapters and colonies across the United States, a group of students at the University of Iowa have worked to start their own chapter for the past few years. They were finally chartered within the Multicultural Greek Council during the spring of 2015. Alexandrea became a member of the GRL Delta class the following semester. Her favorite part of joining Gamma Rho Lambda, she stated, was the sense of family that they provide for members and their activism on campus.
What’s your favorite thing about being in your second year?
I enjoy the learning and self progress that occurs during the second year.
Favorite food?
I love good Indian food.
What lead you to your majors?
I love culture and studying people. That is why I enjoy International Studies and Anthropology.
Any guilty pleasures?
Sugar cookies are my guilty pleasure.
A big part of Alexandrea’s life is her participation in the group “To Write Love on Her Arms.” This group is a place for people experiencing a variety of mental health conditions, such as depression, to have support. Alexandrea has been diagnosed with Bipolar II and Panic disorder.
“I want to end the sigma and the silence around mental health. I don’t like to use mental illness because I feel like illness is a negative word to describe the state and condition that someone is in.”
-Alexandrea Martin
Alexandrea expressed that she has many hobbies and academic interests, but she isn’t sure at the moment what career path she will pursue. She hopes, through her next few years at the University of Iowa, that she can find out where exactly she will be strongest. In her more recent plans, however, she hopes to study gender equality and environmental development in India this winter.