STEM Scholar hopes to inspire others as AC’s Fall Commencement speaker

When Jesus Marquez was in middle school, he dreamed about being a secret agent, never imagining he would actually get to work at Pantex as part of Amarillo College’s STEM Scholars Program. 

Marquez, who completed an electrical-engineering internship last summer at Pantex, has been chosen to serve as the student speaker at AC’s Fall Commencement, which is at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13 at the Amarillo Civic Center.

Following in the footsteps of his older sister, Marquez enrolled at AC, not sure what he would study, but knowing he liked numbers and physics. A friend suggested he look into the STEM Scholars Program on campus. 

He said he hung around the group until one of the advisers encouraged him to become a STEM Scholar, which he did. The program, among other things, prepares and encourages students to pursue summer internships in their fields of study.

Marquez says he hopes to inspire others to take advantage of the opportunities presented when he speaks to his fellow summer and fall graduates – 1,035 in all – who are eligible to receive certificates and diplomas in the Civic Center Coliseum. The ceremony will be live-streamed and available for repeat viewings at www.actx.edu/livestream. 

“In high school I just went to school, the gym and work,” said Marquez a 2022 graduate of Palo Duro High School. “I wasn’t involved in after-school or extracurricular activities. I decided in college to take advantage of every opportunity. As a first-immigrant family, we were taught to do that. 

“I’m more excited than nervous to speak,” he said. “With the STEM Scholars Program, I’ve had the chance to talk to so many groups of people from different companies that I’ve grown in my confidence and speaking ability.” 

One of those speaking opportunities led to a trip to Boise State University, where he represented AC in a national alliance of colleges and universities concerned with the future of education called REP4. While there, Marquez met the architects and saw the blueprints for an engineering idea similar to one his peers at AC worked on in class. As a select student for this trip, he was the only junior college student – and the only one from Texas – at the REP4 conference. 

All this helped him gain the confidence to pursue the internship at Pantex, which in his grade school days he always thought of as a hub of “secret agents.” Marquez worked on a research project at Pantex related to the potential for redirecting lightning strikes away from structures and into the ground. He described his Pantex mentor as helpful in sharing project details and explaining the processes so well that Marquez knew this was a career pathway he definitely wanted to pursue. 

Marquez’ next stop will be at West Texas A&M University, where he will focus on a degree in electrical engineering with an emphasis on lighting design. He will start classes at WT in January. 

He is also thrilled to be offered a chance to return to his internship next summer.

“It was thrilling to be offered the chance to return to my internship and speak at graduation in the same month,” he said. “I’m hoping to keep the Commencement speech a surprise to my parents. They have encouraged me and supported me all the way. Without their help, this would not be possible.” 

Marquez was selected to speak at graduation after a faculty recommendation and an interview. AC features a student speaker at each graduation ceremony.