Editor’s note: This story is part of a series of profiles of notable spring 2025 graduates.
First-generation college student Luis Fernando Yanez Martinez is passionate about creating change in the communities he cares about most.
He has built a meaningful career through roles as a program coordinator, behavioral health coach and AmeriCorps service member.
During his time as an AmeriCorps service member, Yanez Martinez led an after-school program for third, fourth, and fifth-grade elementary students, creating lesson plans and programming to engage students in extracurricular activities that inspire them to love learning and education.
So when the Arizona local decided to pursue a degree, he wanted a major that allowed him to express his creativity and imagination. When he learned about the innovation in society degree at Arizona State University, he knew it was the choice he had been looking for.
This spring, Yanez Martinez will earn his bachelor’s degree and be honored as the Outstanding Undergraduate for the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, a unit of the College of Global Futures.
“Luis Fernando embodies the spirit of innovation with purpose,” said Eusebio Scornavacca, director of the School for the Future of Innovation in Society. “His journey reflects not only personal resilience, but also a deep commitment to using innovation to uplift communities and create meaningful change. I look forward to what he does next.”
However, becoming a driver through the Uber network opened the possibility to pursue a long-held goal of earning a degree and continuing his lifelong commitment to uplifting underserved communities.
The Uber and ASU Education Program creates an opportunity for qualifying drivers, couriers and family members to receive 100% tuition coverage at Arizona State University for more than 140 undergraduate degree programs offered online.
At 31 years old, he never thought he’d return to college.
He credits the partnership for removing the barriers that prevented him from completing his degree and ASU Online for its flexibility and the option to take a project-based class in a collaborative and multidisciplinary environment.
With a wide range of courses to choose from, Yanez Martinez had options to not only delve into the curriculum for his degree but also explore topics and subjects that he found interesting and learn from faculty that taught him that education is a personal experience— it can be fun, exciting and dynamic.
“I took an anthropology class titled Death and Dying in Cross-Cultural Perspectives,” he said. “That class changed my perspective on how people around the world process and understand death in various historical, religious, and cultural contexts.”
During his time at ASU, he engaged in Uber Scholars at ASU community, a Facebook group of fellow drivers pursuing a degree at ASU.
“Find a community where you feel supported,” Yanez Martinez said. “For me, that community was other students who drive with Uber and who were attending ASU. Identify people who can relate to your experience and can connect with you on a deeper level.”
For Yanez Martinez, pursuing innovation in service of others includes uplifting others. It was through those interactions that shaped his thesis project and plans post-graduation.
To help other students who drive with Uber, he focused his thesis on creating the Uber Roadmap, a communications website for internal student distribution that shares important information and resources to support drivers as they navigate both ASU and Uber.
His ultimate goal is to apply what he learned and return to the nonprofit sector — AmeriCorps, Peace Corps or any other organization that works with people in need.
“My parents will see their first child graduate from college,” he said. “Being a first-generation graduate gives me the tools to reshape the future of my family and my community.”
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