My name is Manuel Mendoza. I am a first-generation college student who graduated from California State University Los Angeles with a bachelor’s degree in public health in 2022. I currently reside in Bell Gardens in Los Angeles, where the community is predominately Latino. Currently, I work as a Certified Nursing Assistant while I await the start of my Registered Nurse program this fall.

Utilizing MiOra’s experiential internship program 

Throughout my undergraduate career, I learned about disparities in my community and ways to improve their overall health. In my final year at California State University Los Angeles, I took courses that aligned with community development and research on obesity. By my last semester, I became an intern at MiOra to get real-world experience on these school topics. I had the opportunity to work on public health research projects pertaining to topics such as Youth Mental Heatlh, Alzheimer’s Disease, High Blood Pressure infographics, and was involved in a community health fair event in Oakland. 

Achieving my Public Health Student Goals

Post-graduation, I continued as a Senior intern at MiOra and took the role of social media manager. Throughout these public health projects I worked on, MiOra helped me align my goals to become a nurse by inspiring my love for helping others.

Eventually, once I completed my Certificate as a Nursing Assistant (CNA) course I applied to over 10 RN (Registered Nurse) programs in southern California. Soon enough, I got accepted into 3 nursing programs and I currently have other offers pending. My ultimate goal in the future is to get my credentials and become a Registered Nurse educator so that I may improve the health and lives of those in my community.