By Public Health Communications • Updated May 2026
Mikaela Mendoza (left) and Yessenia Martinez (right)
Public Health students Mikaela Mendoza and Yessenia Martinez provide health education to fellow students and connect them with campus resources to support their health journeys. They both work for Health Promotion as Peer Health Educators, each focusing on distinct areas of health.
Mikaela Mendoza
For the past two years, Mikaela has been involved in outreach initiatives to promote mental health. She helps students manage stress effectively and improve sleep habits to maximize their well-being and academic performance. In achieving this, she creates engaging social media content, leads educational workshops, and coordinates campus-wide mental health outreach. As a Peer Health Educator, she also advocated for student health through presentations and budget proposals to the Associated Students of UC Merced and by engaging with the UC Student Regents. Passionate about community outreach, Mikaela is considering pursuing a graduate degree.
"These experiences have allowed me to actively contribute to creating a campus culture that prioritizes mental well-being.”
-- Mikaela Mendoza, Peer Health Educator.
Yessenia Martinez
Yessenia Martinez, on the other hand, has focused for over a year on increasing awareness and use of campus health and wellness resources. She is involved in creating a Canvas course with information on campus resources that support student health and well-being. Once completed, this course will be available for instructors from departments across UC Merced to assign to their first-year students.
In addition to her work as a Peer Educator, Yessenia’s commitment to health outreach has led her to work on projects that connect the campus and Central Valley communities with resources to meet their basic and legal needs, and to promote environmental health initiatives.
“Growing up witnessing disparities in healthcare access due to financial constraints drove me to pursue a career that addresses these issues.”
-- Yessenia Martinez, Peer Health Educator.
After graduating, Yessenia plans to pursue a career in public health administration to tackle structural barriers to equitable healthcare access.
Mikaela and Yessenia are both first-generation college students from Southern California, currently in their senior year and double-majoring in public health and psychology.
Learn more about our student leaders: Visit the Student Leaders Page
