"[Jennifer Godinez is] a preacher of sorts, with college education for minority students as her gospel," the Associated Press reports. "Working for two 'very focused nonprofits' - as director of the Minnesota College Access Network and associate director of the Minnesota Minority Education Partnership (MMEP) - Godinez, 32, brings boundless energy to helping create, and spread the word on, college opportunities for minority youths. According to a Citizens League report, for current ninth-grade Minnesota students, only 3 percent of American Indians, 5 percent of Hispanics and 3 percent of African-Americans will get a bachelor's degree in Minnesota within 10 years. 'This is one of those things that snuck up on Minnesota, the elephant in the room. Minority students are not achieving. The African-American college-attendance rate is a crisis,' said Godinez."