While she was an undergraduate at UCSD, Ela Yasa majored in Global Health. She is passionate about advocating for the wellbeing and equality of all individuals worldwide. She was one of the General Health co-leads for SHA in the 2020-2021 school year. She was also an intern and facilitator for Save The Children, as well as a lab volunteer for Professor Willis's social psychology lab at UCSD. Her hobbies include playing video games, making crafts, shopping, and spending time with friends.
For the 2019-2020 school year, Ela volunteered in UCSD with the Student Health Advocates (SHA). The Student Health Advocates of UCSD is an application-only peer health education program that has specially trained peer volunteers that aid in different education and outreach efforts related to health across campus.
Ela was accepted as a General Health Peer Educator in the Winter 2018 recruitment and application process. She spent spring quarter of 2019 going through training for around three hours every week in a lecture classroom. Starting fall 2019, she was officially volunteering for 30 hours every quarter around campus. This included around three hours per week of volunteering at the information booth of SHS, volunteering at the flu clinic, presenting health education materials via tabling, workshops, and different events, as well as meeting with other members in order to plan future events for peers.
One problem was managing my classes with the new addition of a 30 hour per quarter commitment. It did make me stressed out at times, but my love for SHA, its' mission, and the people in it always kept me going and supported me in its' community.
By volunteering at SHA, Ela gained additional communication, teamwork, and leaderships skills, and also got to be in a warm and educational environment that contributed greatly to her experience at UCSD.
I can honestly say that it contributed positively to my overall time at UCSD. I also made long lasting friendships with fellow members of SHA, whoa are some of the nicest and wisest people I have met on campus. Overall it has been beneficial to my brain, heart, and soul.
In her senior year, she was accepted as one of the co-leads of the SHA General Health division for the 2020-2021 school year. She guided General Health members in their duties, implemented new workshops for the new school year, and actively communicated with the presidents and the executive board in order to implement even more innovation into the organization.
I love SHA, it's truly such a wonderful organization that made my time at UCSD better.
