SMP Legacy

Past Mentor

Alexis Reimers-Contreras

agalaz2@ucmerced.edu

The Success Mentor Program has influenced my life tremendously. Due to the mentoring I gave, I was able to take what I learned and use that knowledge to now help out my students as a TA. 

I’m now a PhD student working in the IMPACT lab with Dr. Mayra Bamaca. My goals in the next couple of years or so, are to get my PhD and also continue to research what I love.

Kailene Villegas

Faith Her

fher4@ucmerced.edu

The Success Mentor Program (SMP) allowed me to work as a peer mentor, where I developed essential skills in communication, teamwork, collaboration, and relationship-building with mentors and mentees. This experience has been invaluable, allowing me to apply these skills in my academic and professional life. SMP reinforced my passion for mentorship, shaping how I approach teaching and student engagement in higher education. 

Now, as a first-year graduate student in the Sociology PhD program at UC Merced, I continue to use these skills in my role as a teaching assistant. In this position, I mentor and educate undergraduate students while connecting them with essential campus resources that support their well-being and academic success. As a graduate student, I am hoping to conduct research in the areas of education, specifically exploring educational disparities in higher education and their relationship with gender and race/ethnicity, and how these factors may influence academic attainment and social mobility. Looking ahead, my goal is to earn my PhD in sociology and pursue a career in higher education as a professor, where I will continue to draw upon the invaluable skills I gained through SMP.

Viridiana Moreno

Zabeena Mohammed

Celia Jimenez