I met Linsy De Leon in Fall of 2023 when she became heavily involved with the Community Engagement Center. She became a Lift While You Lead (LWYL) mentor where she served over 30+ of service, delivered 9 workshops for Golden Valley High School students, and mentored 30+ high school mentees. LWYL is a nationally recognized program by President Obama's Administration and was founded in 2011 to empower local young womxn of color at Golden Valley High School and Yosemite High School. UC Merced mentors receive extensive training on facilitation, mentorship, workshop planning and team building and afterwards UCM mentors attend a period from Ms. Delgado's Women's Studies class to deliver their different workshops each Friday of the semester.
Linsy was part of the Period 5 Golden Valley Mentor team in Fall 2023. She took the lead on creating interactive workshops that addressed, self image and self love, digital footprint, confidence and resilience, boundary setting, financial literacy and many more. Linsy quickly stood out to me with her ability to be vulnerable and empathetic with the mentees while also being a clear communication and engaging facilitator. Linsy quickly gained the trust and respect from the Golden Valley High School mentees with her can do attitude and active listening. Our local high school mentees really connected with Linsy because like many of them, Linsy is a first-gen Latinx in who went to high school and is attending college. Linsy created a community of belonging with our local high school students and because of that, I believe those mentees saw themselves as attending UC Merced one day.
Linsy is currently serving at the Service Event Coordinator from the Bobcat Community Builders a service club on campus founded in Fall 2023. In her role, she works closely with me to coordinate service projects in local community partners. I am always in awe of Linsy because she can workout the details of an event and show up, roll her sleeves and pull out a shopping cart from the Bear Creek and pick up trash. She works with different Merced County organizations to settle permits before events and receive specialized instructions regarding volunteer safety. Linsy has given back to the Merced community and today our community is better because of her. Linsy does not do service with a hero complex, she completes her service in union of her Merced community. She works alongside already established organizations who know the community and the needs and helps revitalize their efforts. Linsy is always open to feedback and wears her heart on her sleeve. I truly believe that Linsy embodies student success, because she is able to take what she is learning in the classroom and implement it with integrity into our community through service.
