Doctoral Student, CSU Stanislaus
Born and raised in the Central Valley and being bilingual, Grecia is deeply invested in our community. During her time as an undergraduate at UC Merced, she had the privilege of serving as an Orientation Leader, which sparked an early passion for supporting student success. Professionally, she has spent the last 10 years working as a social worker in child welfare. Her current doctoral research focuses on trauma-informed leadership, a lens that aligns deeply with this group's rejection of resilience as merely an individual trait, and our focus on how it is forged through relationships and critical empathy. A focus on joy as a unifying construct undergirding effective pedagogy especially resonates with her lived and professional experiences. In both child welfare and local education, understanding how community cultural wealth and self-efficacy intersect is vital to fostering true systemic success rather than mere institutional assimilation.