San Leandro High Scholar Bound For MIT and Industry

Martin Martinez, who will soon graduate San Leandro High, has already scored some significant achievements, including a full scholarship to MIT and the two software apps he wrote that helped him win that free ride.

But it may be his heroes who suggest the direction that this remarkable 17-year-old will take after college.

"I admire Steve Jobs for his philosophy of perfection and design, and Elon Musk who went after the world's biggest problems," Martinez said.

Jobs, the genius behind Apple who died at age 56, needs little introduction.

Musk, 42, parlayed his success as a co-founder of PayPal into the electric car company Tesla Motors, the rocket maker SpaceX and the alternative energy installer SolarCity.

Martinez -- who hails from a family of remarkable educational accomplishment -- aspires to similar feats.

He has already written two programs available on the Internet:

• Bounce Squirrel, a physics game for the iPhone and similar devices, and
• the self-descriptive 450 Awesome Sounds.

Long interested in math and science, Martinez has become interested in politics and economics. All of this has pushed him toward a career in business.

"I want to be a serial entrepreneur," said Martinez, whose studies at MIT will include electronic engineering.

He rues the lack of participation, thus far, of Mexican-Americans in Silicon Valley and thinks that a revival of manufacturing in North America bodes well for the land of his ancestors.

"Mexico is becoming a new China, in a way, for manufacturing," he said.

Martinez is excited about robotics -- as is his younger sister, Celia, who is on the robotics team at Bancroft Middle School.

In the accompanying video Martinez explains his interest in space and displays a foresight rare at any age, most especially adolescence.

What were you thinking when you were 17 and on the verge of high school graduation?