Ezequiel Jimenez Martinez ’13

The classroom at Mac is more than just the reading. The diversity, understanding how your fellow students viewed things, is part of the coursework. And that’s a liberal arts education.

Ezequiel Jimenez Martinez ’13

Amnesty International has global strategy that sets priorities for the whole movement, with directors for each country whose independent boards and volunteers can pivot according to local needs. I am the second in command in the central office, facilitating services for 60+ offices around the world within the Amnesty movement, providing strategy for human-rights programming and support for organizational development. 

One of my earliest jobs was writing research briefings on cutting-edge questions. I had taken a three-month, unpaid internship doing youth engagement at Amnesty, so I had access to the internal portal of an enormous organization that posts lots of jobs. But I got the paid position because I had the skills to to be handed a topic to research and to be able to come back with a two-page argument for a position. Every Mac class asks you to do this. To develop critical thinking, to defend an argument, and also to adopt new things you’re learning and be able to change your views. Most of my classes at Mac were diverse in terms of the origin of the students, so we had points of view that ranged from rural Ohio to the huge metropolis of Nairobi. The classroom was more than just the reading; the diversity was part of the coursework. 

My Chuck Green summer fellowship at the Immigrant Law Center in Minnesota was transformative. I learned so much that is connected to what I do today—working for an NGO on migration law and human rights, dealing with tight budgets and lots of pressure. I also learned there how to ask questions and to find the thing that an organization really needs that I could offer. 

I tell students that instead of aiming for a specific job you think you want, you have to ask: how can I apply my skills to a purpose I care about? You could be an English major who does the important work of telling the stories of victims of terrible crimes. Or you could apply your storytelling skills to financial reporting at Amnesty, where you can give me the numbers story to take to my board to get funding to support those who are aiding people on the ground. What matters is not the job title but what you do, inside, once you’re there.

Last updated: October 2025