Undergraduate Students

The stethoscopes may come later, but the commitment to community was clear as UC Merced welcomed its newest SJV PRIME+ students last weekend. The Student and Family Welcome event marked the beginning of an eight-year journey for 15 students who will progress from bachelor’s degrees at UC Merced to medical degrees from the UCSF School of Medicine, and complete clinical training at UCSF Fresno — all with a shared mission to strengthen health care in the San Joaquin Valley. 

This is the final entry of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2025 semester.

Adriana Ponce Mata spent the last two summers working in one of the largest and oldest companies in the Bay Area. This fall, she joins UC Merced to begin her next chapter. Through Project SEED, she gained hands-on research experience testing fuels in an oil refinery, sparking her passion for science and helping others.

Spirits were high and futures bright while all else was soaked in a summer storm that made Tuesday morning’s Scholars Bridge Crossing, UC Merced’s traditional greeting to new students, a welcome unlike any before.

Call them Thunder ‘Cats.

The ceremony embraced about 2,000 first-year and transfer students to a campus that this fall semester marks 20 years since the first undergraduate class began at the newly built institution, bringing the power of a University of California education to the Central Valley.

The new academic year is a momentous milestone for UC Merced — two decades of growth, innovation and achievement. In 2005, the first undergraduate students were welcomed on the new campus. Now, 20 years later, thousands more new students will begin their own journeys that will shape their futures and the future of UC Merced.

This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2025 semester.

Drake Ledford was an exemplary high school student, earning a 4.29 GPA. The Merced Union High School District (MUHSD) recognized him as one of its top scholars. He was also honored as valedictorian for his class and a California Scholarship Federation Sealbearer, the highest level of recognition for academic achievement, at his graduation in June.

This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2025 semester.

One could say UC Merced has always been part of incoming Bobcats Ella and Satchel Ortez’s lives. The twins’ father worked for the 10th UC campus when it opened, and they lived with the campus as their backyard view until moving down Highway 99 in 2013.

A group of dedicated UC Merced alumni have come together to launch an endowed fund focused on supporting LGBTQ+ student initiatives, programs and priorities.

Spearheaded by University of California Regent Emeritus Keith Ellis ’12, the LGBTQ+ Lambda Student Engagement Endowment was created to foster a more inclusive and affirming environment for students from diverse sexual and gender identities, now and for generations to come.

Growing up in Watsonville, a vibrant agricultural community on California's Central Coast, Adamaris Alvarez always knew she wanted to work in agriculture. She worked on her family's berry ranch, Alvarez Farms, where she grew a deep appreciation for the hard work agriculture demands.

But it wasn't until she saw an Instagram post about an internship at UC Merced's Experimental Smart Farm that she realized she could help shape the future of farming.

UC Merced’s graduating Class of 2025 recently celebrated its achievement at the campus’s spring commencement, joined by family members, close friends and loved ones.

For two graduates, Jahaira Morales and Bryan Gutierrez, the ceremony also was an opportunity to meet with a couple of other individuals who have been invested in their higher-education journey at UC Merced – their scholarship benefactors, Dar Chen and Cheryl Matsubara.

Mariel Garcia accepted a welcoming handshake from the chief of staff for state Sen. Tim Grayson. A large photograph of rolling hills at sunset near Walnut Creek, a city in Grayson’s district, dominated a wall in the compact reception room.

“Good to meet you,” said the chief of staff, Aaron Moreno. “We’ll make sure to get whatever you need.”