Current Scholars
2026-2027 Cohort
Sneha Ahuja
University of California, Riverside
Project: Heat and Health: Building Climate Communities in the Inland Empire
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This project aims to decrease health risks associated with excessive heat in the Inland Empire by providing preventative action, education, and local capacity building. Heat disproportionately affects the elderly, the poor, and minority groups. This program uses community sites for education, programming, and resource distribution, rather than reactive clinical care, thereby meeting the needs of more people in settings that they already find familiar. UCR students are trained to be Climate Health Ambassadors, teaching heat-illness recognition, hydration, and resource navigation as well as distributing cooling kits. This is a powerful tool to offset the deleterious effects of climate change.
Allison Bang
University of California, San Diego
Project: Female Environmental Mentorship (FEM): Promoting Outdoor Access, Environmental Education, and Leadership for Girls in San Diego
This is an outdoor educational and leadership initiative to empower girls by providing structured mentoring, environmental education, and outdoor opportunities. Modern youth lack exercise and female role models outdoors. Environmental advocacy and leadership are fostered through activities such as hiking, camping, rock climbing, and backpacking. Participants are mentored by female college students. Each participant will develop a community project and create a presentation for a culminating banquet. Each project will continue well beyond the program.
Gabriella Gegel
Santa Clara University
Project: Veteran Mental Health Awareness & Access to Non-Traditional Therapies in the South Bay​
Through a partnership with Veterans Yoga Project, this project will bring trauma-informed yoga to veterans in the South Bay area as an accessible, nontraditional form of therapeutic support. By leveraging established training models and community partnerships, and transportation support, we aim to bridge existing gaps in mental health resources and connect Veterans with holistic practices that promote regulation, resilience, and long-term well-being, while recognizing that access to care not only depends on availability, but also the ability to physically reach supportive spaces.
Erika Jiang
University of California, Santa Barbara
Project: Project Protégé: Empowering System-Impacted Youth Through Lived Experience Mentorship​
The program addresses a critical gap in Santa Barbara County’s justice system by empowering system-impacted youth through mentorship grounded in lived experience. The program leverages reliable mentors to provide guidance absent from the lives of many system-impacted youth over a 12-month pilot period. In partnership with Freedom for Youth, UCSB Underground Scholars, and Santa Barbara Underground Scholars, the program recruits and trains five mentors to support 10 system-involved youth, emphasizing goal-setting in education, employment, and personal accountability. Lived experience becomes a catalyst for reintegration.
Noah Kim
University of California, San Diego
Project: Parkinson’s and Intergenerational Support Program (PAIRS)​
The PAIRS Program provides an intergenerational support system for individuals with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) in Orange County. PAIRS addresses social isolation by connecting those with PD with college student volunteers for 1) lifestyle support, 2) physical activity, and 3) health education. The program benefits both PDs and volunteers. The program partners with Concordia University, Irvine, and the Lifestyle and Parkinson's Longitudinal Study, and can be copied as a model by other non-profit communities supporting chronic diseases.
Kristie Moore
University of California, Berkeley
Project: Central Asia Peace Scholars Program​
The Central Asia Peace Scholars Program is a year-long education program for 150 young people aged 16 to 24 from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan that aims to address conflict in Central Asia. Learning is both virtual and in-person. Participants attend bi-weekly workshops in peace studies, hear guest speakers, and undertake activities that foster leadership and community-building skills. During the winter months, they will have hands-on training. The goal is to create sustainable skills that counteract conflict.
Riya Ramakrishnan
Stanford University
Project: Eye for Equity (E4E)​
This is a student-led service-learning fellowship dedicated to eliminating vision care barriers for those who are homeless. E4E currently addresses one barrier to vision care by providing vouchers to offset the cost of glasses. However, many patients need a prescription to access care. The project will implement an auto-refraction program in clinic shifts and an eye health screening program in partnership with United Effort Organization. All programs will be integrated into a sustainable service-learning fellowship.
Alexa Sanchez
San Diego State University
Project: KidsWant2Runz: Play Focused Movement Program for 5th and 6th Grade Students in San Diego Unified​
This program promotes physical activity as an accessible and pleasurable choice for children who do not have a lot of positive support for movement in their schools. It emphasizes teamwork, confidence, and physical health, providing opportunities for community members and students to support youth.
Anne Schloss
Santa Clara University
Project: Veteran Mental Health Awareness & Access to Non-Traditional Therapies in the South Bay​
Through a partnership with Veterans Yoga Project, this project will bring trauma-informed yoga to veterans in the South Bay area as an accessible, nontraditional form of therapeutic support. By leveraging established training models and community partnerships, and transportation support, we aim to bridge existing gaps in mental health resources and connect Veterans with holistic practices that promote regulation, resilience, and long-term well-being, while recognizing that access to care not only depends on availability, but also the ability to physically reach supportive spaces.
Maurquez Thompson
Stanford University
Bridging the Gap: Empowering Chattanooga’s Underserved Youth​
This project is a comprehensive college access initiative for 40 to 50 underserved high school students at the Howard School and Brainerd High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Few students matriculate to university because of a lack of financial aid, education, and college prep. The Project provides yearlong workshops and one-on-one mentorship support in collaboration with counselors.
Lillie Vehling
University of California, Davis
Project: SWAG: Swim Ags for Adult Water Safety​
SWAG is a student-led adult learn-to-swim and water safety initiative designed to increase inclusive swim education in college communities, beginning at UCD. The program provides free, beginner-friendly instruction for adults who have little or no swimming experience, emphasizing safety, confidence, and community-based learning. Training is led by trained UC Davis student athletes and structured to remove financial and social barriers preventing adults from getting swim education. Funding will support instructor training and equipment, and sustainable replicable models for other campuses.
Cocoa Young-Perez
University of California, Irvine
Project: Roots to College (A Pipeline Program)​
The lack of any accessible application support prevents many qualified students from applying to, enrolling in, or aiming for higher education –a ubiquitous problem that is compounded in the City of Oakland. Roots to College addresses this gap. The program is in 3 phases:1) bi-weekly mentorship support by college students in the application season; 2) monthly workshops on college success topics; and 3) a culminating celebration.