Gonzales High School senior receives national scholarship for Mental Health Awareness Project

GONZALES, Calif. (KION-TV)- A Gonzales High School senior received a Mental Health Awareness scholarship from the National Society of High School Scholars.

Valeria Tinoco received the scholarship for demonstrating positive efforts in spreading awareness and affecting change regarding mental health.

Tinoco had to write an essay which talked about her involvement with the Gonzales Youth Council and described her efforts to spread awareness in her community surrounding mental health.

Each year, the Gonzales Youth Council undertakes a service-learning project to improve the community. The council chose to focus their project on youth mental health because the challenges that distance learning and school closures presented to students during the pandemic.

The council conducted a mental health survey among middle school and high school students in Gonzales.

The survey results led to the city and Gonzales Unified School District jointly funding a second school-based clinical social worker.

"My takeaway from working on the youth mental health project is that it is important for the youth to speak out about problems or have a voice to represent them to solve any problems,” said Tinoco. 

In addition to the NSSHSS scholarship, Tinoco received five other scholarships.

She will be graduating from Gonzales High School on Saturday. Tinoco is planning to attend UC Davis in the fall and will be majoring in molecular and medical microbiology.

Her career goal is to become a physician and she would like to return to Gonzales to work at a clinic in Monterey County.