Mara Mark

Student

“I get really upset when I see a major injustice being done.”

“I hope to be working on a committee dealing with foreign affairs and the Caribbean,” says Mara Mark, who will be interning in Washington this summer through SMC’s Dale Ride internship program. “I’m going to be majoring in international relations and minoring in Spanish. Then I’ll consider going into law, where I’d love to help improve the relations between the U.S. and Latin America, because that’s where I’m from.”

Mara was born in Guatemala City and came here in 1971. “I actually just became a U.S. citizen,” she says. “And it’s not so easy a thing to do as it sounds. I was really torn about it.” But Mara’s memories of her first country were overwhelmed by demands of the new country. “And now I’m very comfortable with the decision,” she says.

As surprising as her journey from Guatemala was to her, Mara is even more astonished with her imminent leap from SMC to D.C. “This is really so exciting for all of us,” she says. “I love what the Ride family and SMC have made possible, and I’m going to use the opportunity to get as deeply involved as I can in the process of governmental decision-making.”

Mara feels that making a statement with your life is more important than getting rich. “I’m not just the kind of person who gets motivated by bucks.” She doesn’t use a car, because “riding my bike is doing something that’s positive.” She’s also waitressing 30 hours a week to pay for school at the moment. “And when I don’t need to do that anymore, that’ll be a definite positive.”

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