Valeria Tinoco Perez

Valeria Tinoco Perez is a first-generation Latina and first-year student in the class of 2027 at UC Davis. She intends to pursue a medical career and major in Molecular and Medical Microbiology. Valeria is passionate about mental health, especially after the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order's detrimental impact on the youth's health. She demonstrated initiative and leadership in the Gonzales Youth Council's Mental Health Service Action Project. The initiative promoted awareness in Gonzales High School and the city of Gonzales, CA, and was awarded the 2022 Helen Putnam Award for Excellence. In college, she would like to continue advocating for mental health awareness to ensure mental health resources are available for everyone and to eliminate the stigma, especially in marginalized communities.