OSU alumna takes on law school
Thursday, November 6, 2025
Media Contact: Kirsi McDowell | Communications Coordinator | 405-744-8320 | kirsi@okstate.edu
The defense might rest, but Mariah Martin doesn’t.
The College of Education and Human Sciences alumna completed a bachelor’s degree in human development and family science with grand plans for her future.
Equipped with a concentration in child and family services, Martin has tackled her first year at Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington.
Martin graduated from Oklahoma State University in May 2024, earning her bachelor’s
degree in three short years. Later that fall, she embarked on her new journey.
“Law school is really challenging but also very rewarding,” Martin said. “When people ask me to reflect on my first year, I usually say, ‘That was so much more fun in all the ways I expected it to be difficult, and so much more difficult in ways I was not expecting.”
Martin believes her time as a student in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at OSU helped prepare her for the demanding and rigorous coursework that comes with being a law student.
“The cool thing about law school is that you don’t need a specific undergraduate degree to get in,” Martin said. “I chose HDFS because I knew I wanted to work with people, and learn to understand them and the families that they come from, so I could have that perspective going into law school.”
An OSU Outstanding Senior in 2024, Martin successfully finished her undergraduate program with a solid foundation to pursue a career working with individuals and families.
“The people that I was surrounded by as a student in our college, and OSU overall, helped prepare me for law school, in the sense of networking and making connections, while also learning how to ask for help and help others,” Martin said.
One of the obstacles Martin faced as she entered graduate school was moving from her hometown of Ringling, Oklahoma, to eastern Washington, nearly 1,800 miles away. Traveling out of state for college was something she had long considered, but she fell in love with OSU after touring the Stillwater campus ahead of her freshman year.
“I tell people all the time, ‘There was just something about OSU that made me feel at home,’” Martin said. “I remember walking through campus, and everyone was smiling and waving. Everybody just seemed really happy.”
While preparing for law school, Martin decided to tour schools before applying. After visiting Gonzaga, Martin felt the same sense of familiarity as she did with OSU.
“Stillwater was a good step up from my hometown, where I graduated (high school) with around 30 people,” Martin said. “Spokane felt like the moderately sized city I was looking for, and though there are many differences between Gonzaga and OSU, it still had that community aspect that drove me to initially pick OSU.”
Martin believes that the best route to take as an aspiring law student is to choose to study something you enjoy.
“I would absolutely recommend the human development and family science program to others who want to pursue law school,” Martin said. “Especially if it’s something that really interests people, because I was always excited to go to class and as a result I never felt burnt-out as I completed my undergrad.”
Martin offered a piece of advice not only to those choosing to pursue law school, but to all students furthering their education: be gritty, be genuine and be grateful.
“Being gritty means you have to do the work,” Martin said. “No one is going to do it for you, and it’s going to be difficult, but you have to wake up and be excited to do the work.
“Being genuine just means showing up as your true self. I’ve noticed good people gravitate towards that, and I believe that’s why I have ended up in such good environments with good experiences for internships.
“And lastly, be grateful for those people. I have so much gratitude for all of the people who helped me get to this point. I tell people all the time to send handwritten thank you notes — It’s the best way to show your gratitude.”
Martin is on track to graduate from Gonzaga in May 2027, ready to step into the courtroom as a licensed attorney.
Photos By: KJ Photography
Story By: Annie Ross | ASPIRE Magazine