Multitasking mom! Bekah Martinez started her last semester at the University of California Irvine on Monday, January 4.
“It’s been a slow, hard eight-year journey, and I’m so close to the finish line,” the Bachelor alum, 25, wrote via Instagram. “I first started at UC Irvine in 2013, fresh out of high school. I had plans to be an elementary school teacher or an art teacher and began pursuing my BFA. I dropped out in 2015. I was really depressed and felt so alone. I moved back to my hometown to live with my parents and hit the refresh button.”
The California native then took classes at a couple of community colleges, was rejected by University of California Los Angeles’ art program and joined the season 22 Bachelor cast.
“Then I got pregnant after dating my boyfriend, [Grayston Leonard], for three months,” the “Chatty Broads” podcast cohost went on to write.
She and the rock-climbing gym owner, 32, welcomed their daughter, Ruth, now 23 months, in February 2019. Her arrival gave Martinez “a huge boost of motivation” to return to school, and she re-enrolled.
“Then I got pregnant with [my son], Franklin,” the former reality star added. “The pandemic happened; I finished out the spring semester taking classes on zoom at 39 weeks pregnant. So finally … here we are. 2021. I have two classes left, I’ve gained two babies along the way and I’ll be able to say I did it. This spring I’ll have my college degree. I’m so damn proud.”
Leonard commented, “Very proud of you mamma,” while Married at First Sight alum Jamie Otis wrote, “So proud of you my friend! You’re such an inspiration on so many levels.”
In the social media upload, the former ABC personality smiled with Ruth and Franklin, 6 months, on each hip. Martinez shared throwback photos rocking the same UC Irvine sweatshirt while pregnant with Ruth, then seven months after her birth.
“I’m ready to get this s–t over with,” she wrote in September 2019. “Hopefully, this is my last first day of college ever. This bachelors degree has been seven years in the making.”
Martinez is pursuing an art degree — as opposed to the English major she started out with — because she “didn’t really take any classes toward [her] major.”
Keep scrolling to see her back to school photos over the years.
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