Michael and Lisa Sachs

Before Michael and Lisa Sachs embarked on successful professional careers, they were just your ordinary students at the University of Houston.

But they turned their undergraduate experience into something extraordinary, reaching out for numerous leadership positions with different student organization organizations on campus.

“These leadership opportunities and experiences,” Lisa Sachs said, “each in their own unique way, helped shape the people we are today.”

The Sachs, who met and fell in love while at UH, wanted to share that with students today.

The couple created the Michael and Lisa Sachs Leadership Scholarship to “recognize and honor the impact these opportunities and experiences made on our lives and give recognition and support to UH student leaders who exemplify the meaning of leadership and make a real difference in their organizations.”

Since the scholarship was created in 2015, the University of Houston has awarded it to five students.

Zunayra Hemani, a public health major who is also the director of the Council for Cultural Activities of UH, received the scholarship in 2021 and credits it with giving her the support to continue her undergraduate education. Her UH experience, she said, has been enhanced by her involvement on campus despite the ongoing pandemic. It has allowed her to explore her passions, she said.

“As a council liaison for the Council for Cultural Activities and an ambassador for the UH Women and Gender Resource Center, I was able to meet so many new people and learn more about myself, all while advocating for things that I am extremely passionate about,” Hemani said.

That kind of passion for on campus involvement came naturally to the Sachs. When the two graduated from UH — Michael in 1997 with a double major in political science and psychology, and Lisa in 1995 with a degree in interior design — their resumes were filled with campus leadership roles. Michael joined and helped lead groups like the Interfraternity Council, the Activities Funding Board, University Center Policy Board, Students with Disabilities, Frontier Fiesta Association, Frontiersmen, and Delta Upsilon Fraternity. Lisa’s list was equally impressive: UH Ambassadors, Honors College Program Board, and Frontier Fiesta Association.

After she graduated, Lisa continued her on campus work: She worked as a campus activities advisor, developing new leaders in many of the same organizations she and Michael were part of as undergrads.

Today, Lisa is the director of marketing and advancement for The Shlenker School in Houston, and Michael is managing partner at Galene Financial.

“During our time at UH, our leadership positions allowed us to grow academically, socially, emotionally, mentally, and professionally,” Lisa said. “Participating in leadership positions during our college years allowed us to learn and more importantly practice leadership skills that we have carried throughout our lives. While the success of the organizations we were involved in were gratifying, our best life lessons were learned from our mistakes and failures.”

The couple, who married in 2000, still have a lot of love for UH.

“One of the great things about the University of Houston is the large number of student organizations on campus,” Michael said. “There are so many organizations that support different causes, purposes, and interests. It is possible for all students on campus to find at least one student organization that speaks to them.

“When students put themselves out there and join an organization, they are able to accomplish amazing things,” he added. “These experiences are only propelled further when a student steps into a leadership role in an organization. Leadership teaches experiential lifelong skills that rarely are found in the classroom. They give students the opportunity to lead and impact change in a safe nurturing environment. Leadership, in any form, allows students to grow, learn to listen, and respect their fellow organizational members as well as the general public.”

Their $1,000 scholarship recognizes highly motivated UH students, who exhibit leadership qualities and campus involvement. To win the scholarship, a student must be enrolled full-time, have a GPA of at least 2.5, and must be actively participating in a role within a co-curricular activity or student organization.

The Sachs say they hope students can take away the positive lessons they learned as students.

“Students who embark into leadership are truly setting the stage for success in so many areas of their lives,” Lisa said. “Leadership allows them to lay the groundwork for success in their chosen career paths, professionally, and in non-profit work. Ideally, student involvement teaches the importance of being part of something larger than yourself and making a difference in every aspect of life.”

Hemani said she chose the University of Houston because she knew she wanted to attend a school that would nurture her love of learning, challenge her viewpoints and preconceived opinions, and allow her to expand on her knowledge and skills.

Now that she’s settled in as a student, she encourages other students to go after their passions. “Nike. Just Do It. Even though it sounds cliché, it is probably the best advice I would give someone. At UH, there is truly something for everyone, so just go for it. Find something that interests you and join/apply/start. In the past, I often would keep myself from opportunities that interested me due to self-doubt or self-consciousness. This year has truly been one of tremendous growth for me as I decided that I would no longer hold myself back, so I went for it. I saw things that I wanted to do and put myself out there. The only thing you can do is try.”

Rick and Barby Martinez

New scholarship to ease financial burden on first-generation students

When Barby Martinez was an undergrad at the University of Houston, she worked two jobs to put herself through school.

Neither she nor her husband, Rick, came from wealthy families. Both worked hard to pay for their UH education, and because of that they say, they didn’t get to experience all that they could have at college, such as parties, going to all the football games, or joining a lot of clubs.

“We just didn’t have that experience,” Barby said. “We were too busy going to work.”

Both Barby and Rick — who met while attending classes in the College of Education — graduated in 1994 when tuition was lower, but even then they still struggled to pay for tuition and books. Students today, the couple say, have an even greater financial burden than they did.

“We both paid our way through school,” Rick said. “That’s not an opportunity you get at a lot of schools, and now it’s harder and harder to do that. We wanted to help someone do that so they can enjoy college and hopefully take what the university gives you.”

Rick and Barby have created the Martinez Family First Generation Scholarship, which pays $1,000 to a student each year who is enrolled full-time, active in the first-generation student programming through the Urban Experience Program, has a financial need, maintains a 3.0 GPA, and attended high school in Brownsville, Los Fresnos or Houston Independent school districts. The scholarship will be awarded for the first time in January 2022.

Barby credits their education at UH with the couple’s success today. “Education is one of the surest ways out of poverty, and it can be a life changing thing,” she said. “I think it’s becoming harder and harder to graduate. College is expensive.”

Both she and Rick, thanks to their hard work while enrolled at UH, were able to graduate debt-free. So they’ve always encouraged their three daughters to seek out opportunities to relieve the financial stress that can come with attending a university. “We’ve always tried to communicate to them what a gift it is without the burden of college debt,” Barby said. “For most people, that is not a reality.”

She and Rick, who married in 1997, both graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with secondary teaching certificates from UH. After graduating, both began teaching high school at Kempner High School in Fort Bend County. Barby left teaching after three years when the couple started their family, and Rick taught for four years before going into the auto industry. He’s currently the vice president of operations for a large auto dealership group in New England.

The couple have kept strong ties to both UH and Houston even though they now live in Connecticut. They even still have their season basketball tickets, because they want to keep their seats for when they eventually return to Houston.

And they’ve passed on their love of UH to their daughters, who have all become Coogs: Ana has earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Tessa (who received a Tier One scholarship) earned a Bachelor of Arts in English, and youngest daughter Emma is currently a sophomore working on a Bachelor of Science in Teaching and Learning degree.

They may be creating a Cougar family legacy, but Barby and Rick also say their daughters have learned through them that they could receive a high-quality education and then get what Rick likes to call a “return on investment” in the future.

“UH is an incredible value for the price,” Barby said.

Rick said that when he and Barby attended, UH’s reputation wasn’t what it is now. “But we are rapidly becoming a Top 3 or 4 school in Texas,” he said.

Although neither Barby nor Rick were first-generation students, Rick’s father was. Both understand what it’s like to go to college with little family financial support.

“We just want to make it easier for every future first-generation student, especially coming from those circumstances,” Rick said. “We want to make this an easier experience so they can enjoy the university, go to the football games and not have to cover a shift.”

Barby said they also hope their scholarship will have a ripple effect on future generations. “If you change the trajectory of one person in a family, you can change the trajectory of an entire family to come,” she said.