When Christina Martinez-Benitez ('04) first arrived at UNT, her goal was to become a band director. But she had no idea that there were so many different fields in music. Now Martinez-Benitez, a middle school band director at Lamar CISD, together with her husband, Noe, produced and recorded the Lucky Diaz album ¡Fantastico!, which won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Children's Album. She also worked on Diaz's newest CD, Aqui y Alla, out this spring.

"At UNT, I realized that the music career I had imagined could be achieved," she says. "The staff and music faculty are not only world renowned, but they are real people, from cities like where I was from, living their dreams and inspiring me."