Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Martin Offered Four Year Fellowship At UK

Prescott native Jonathan Martin, a senior psychology major at Henderson State University (HSU), has been offered a four-year fellowship of $20,000 per year, plus books and tuition waiver, by the experimental psychology program at the University of Kansas.

Law schools at the University of Arkansas, Baylor University, University of Colorado and the University of Montana have also accepted Martin, who has received offers from several other graduate schools as well.

In addition to excelling in many academic endeavors Martin also played tennis for Henderson State University, leading the Reddies to a second place finish in the Gulf South Conference Western Division this year.

Martin said he is leaning towards going to law school in the fall, but hasn't decided where. "Where ever he goes that institution will be fortunate to be getting two outstanding students" a news release from HSU said.

Fellow classmate Marisa Fulton, a native of Grapevine, Texas, will be this year's outstanding graduating senior in psychology at Henderson. She has also been accepted to the same four law schools. Like Martin, she achieved high scores on both the GRE (Graduate Record Exam), which is required for admission to most graduate schools, and the LSAT (Law School Admission Test).

Fulton also happens to be Martin's fianci.

"We didn't like each other at first," said Fulton. "Isn't that weird? That was mainly my fault. When we first met, we were in an oral communications class early in that morning that was immediately after my early morning swimming practices. I was a little grumpy that early in the morning."

Fulton also epitomized today's student athlete, participating two years for Henderson's nationally competitive Red Wave swim team, and another two years on the cross country team. "Got to stay in shape somehow," Fulton said.

Both students attribute part of their success on the entrance tests to a summer course taught by Henderson associate professor of psychology Dr. Travis Langley.

"It helped a lot," Martin said of the four-week course, Critical and Analytical Reasoning. "One week is entirely dedicated to the logic and problem solving questions. That really prepared us, because one section of the tests is nothing but questions like that.

"(Dr. Langley's) been a big help to me," said Fulton. "He really helped with our research projects and other things. It's really paid off."

But before the two can continue their academic success in law school, a new challenge still awaits after graduation in May: their wedding in July.

"He's perfect for me, and we're perfect for each other," said Fulton, who personally prefers the University of Colorado for law school. "We both want to have a career, but for the time being, I guess we're just career students."

And with a marriage on the way, that Critical and Analytical Reasoning course may have some use for years to come.