Nicole Méndez is an undergraduate criminology student and graduate student at Penn’s Masters of Public Health program. She is deeply passionate about working with underprivileged communities, including vulnerable youth, survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, and incarcerated individuals. In the future, Nicole is interested in pursuing a J.D. to support vulnerable communities who don’t have access to quality legal representation.
On campus, Nicole serves as a writing tutor and mentor at the Marks Family Center for Excellence in Writing. She is a board member for the Penn Undergraduate Criminology Society and is Associate Editor for the Penn Undergraduate Law Journal. Also a researcher, Nicole spent 2023 as a research fellow at Penn’s Crime and Justice Policy Lab where she concentrated on investigating sexual and gender-based violence against migrants and refugees in Trinidad and Tobago. Off campus, Nicole volunteers for the Sonia and Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program where she helps underprivileged high school students obtain state and federal judicial internships and access to other legal resources.
In the future, Nicole hopes to use SNF Paideia principles and tools to develop her own initiatives supporting underprivileged communities and strengthen her own civic engagement.