Highlights
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In his first attempt at a college degree, Robin Marquez β26 dropped out with a 0.9 GPA.
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Years later, he re-grouped through the program and eventually completed research with the Smithsonian Institution and earned the Order of Pegasus, ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½βs most prestigious student honor.
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Through his second chance, he grew a passion for plant science and research thanks to mentors and exposure to the ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ Arboretum and ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½βs Bug Closet.
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He plans to support Americaβs natural resources through entomology, the study of insects and their relationship to humans, the environment and other organisms.
Robin Marquez β26 has re-prioritized his necessities at the University of Minnesota: he has clothes for exploring, clothes for frigid winters and somewhere heβs safely stored a new passport. This is Marquezβs latest stop in a lifelong itinerary thatβs taken him from Brooklyn, New York, to Palm Beach County to Tampa, Florida, to ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½.
Oct. 19-23 is National Transfer Student Week
βI created a new road by going offroad,β he says.
Marquez is coming up on his 31st birthday. He graduated from ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ in May with a biology degree and an unexpected interest. Among the possessions he took north are arthropod samples collected from the ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ Arboretum, an 80-acre parcel of research-rich ecosystems. Heβs studying the microscopic insects for information about biological diversity. Theyβve already provided the direction Marquez sought for so long.
βWhat Iβm doing now, I couldnβt fathom a few years ago,β he says.
In his mid-20s, Marquez felt as if he were stuck in the weeds with a high school education and blurry future. Today, this same Robin Marquez has achieved the following: awarded the Order of Pegasus, recognition as the first student nominated through Valencia College for a Goldwater Scholarship, collaborated with researchers at Yale University and the Smithsonian Institution, and stood as the only undergraduate to receive the coveted Entomological Society of America Alate Award in 2025.
All of this has led him to the Twin Cities to work on a Ph.D. in entomology.
βI still donβt know where the limit is,β Marquez says.
His successes arenβt just for him. Theyβre for anyone who thinks theyβve wandered off the academic road.
βI no longer buy the narrative of hitting traditional checkpoints, like [completing an uninterrupted path to graduation] and starting a career by your early 20s,β he says. βIt might take time to find the right people to propel you in ways you never thought possible.β
Marquez tried the βtraditional checkpointsβ route after high school, enrolling at the University of South Florida on a full ride in 2013. He imagined cruising along to medical school. However, 16 months later he departed USF with a failing GPA and mounting mental health challenges.
βI felt crushed,β he says. βI thought college would be my ticket out of socioeconomic hardship, that Iβd be a first-generation graduate and break a cycle. Instead, it came to a grinding halt. I had the capability but not the right mindset. So, I kind of floated in this nebulous space of βadulthood.β β
Marquez carried the label βcollege dropoutβ in his mind for years. To this day, itβs hard for him to explain how misunderstood he felt.
Volunteering at an animal shelter became an escape. He moved to Orlando and grew plants in his apartment, hoping to shake himself out of stasis. A friend noticed how he enjoyed gardening and said he could make a career at it.
βI grew up in the concrete jungle of Brooklyn before my family moved to Florida,β Marquez says. βA gardening career sounded impossible until I heard Valencia [College] offers a degree in plant science. I thought Iβd take a class, set the bar low and get back on my feet.β
A botany instructor at Valencia, Fabiano Isenhour, told Marquez to aim higher and consider research. The program director, Javier Garces, suggested he pursue a doctorate.
βI went from thinking two years of college would be my path into the workforce,β Marquez says, βto wondering where research might take me.β
The Fascinated Bug Librarian
In January of 2024, nearly 10 years after leaving college with a 0.9 GPA, Marquez transferred through the DirectConnect to ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ program with multiple plant certifications and a 4.0 earned at Valencia. His mental health had improved, too.
βEverything snowballed,β he says. βAt ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½, I spent time with a wellness coach in the McNair Scholars Program. Mentors like (former Professor) Patrick Bohlen were invested in my potential. I found this intersection of passion, support and community, which fueled my drive.
Marquez also discovered the Arboretum and ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½βs Bug Closet, a collection of more than 575,000 specimens β one of the largest completely databased collections in the world β that heightened his new curiosity about the relationship between insects and agriculture.
βInsect specimens are like books,β he says. βThey provide knowledge about the world. In the Bug Closet, I was the librarian. My research there led me to the Smithsonian, where I worked with species that are new to science. Someday I could be involved in giving them names.β
On His Own Track in Life
βWhen I look back at where Iβve been and where Iβve come, itβs exhilarating. I canβt imagine making it this far if my path hadnβt led to ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½.β
The dispiriting label Marquez once shouldered has been shed. In its place, he has that new passport, which heβs using to present research at international conferences. He envisions completing his doctorate and working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture or Smithsonian to support Americaβs natural resources through entomology.
βIβm just now finding where I belong,β he says. βWhen I look back at where Iβve been and where Iβve come, itβs exhilarating. I canβt imagine making it this far if my path hadnβt led to ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½.β
