Oliva was awarded the 2023 SDSU Aztec Achievement Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Service to recognize her service to the San Diego State Community while pursuing her Psychology Masters degree. Oliva was born and raised in the Southeast San Diego community and values service towards the diverse communities within San Diego. She has served many roles in mentorship and student advocacy at both San Diego State and UC San Diego while being a graduate student including her work as a SDSU PCI Health Career Opportunities peer mentor, SDSU Womxn of Color Empowerment Group member, and as a recurring student panelists for student support programs at both universities to speak on the student experience as a Latina in STEM pursuing higher education.
Her advocacy work amplified at SDSU when she was awarded the student success fee grant to organize and host the First Gen Series, a series event she proposed with her advisors Dr. Koko Nishi and Dr. Zemed Berhe, to validate and affirm the experience for students of color and first generation college students at San Diego State University. These events were hosted at the Student Union Theatre, Templo Mayor, and the Black Resource Center here at San Diego State and were highly attended by faculty, staff and students at SDSU. The events served as a healing and affirming space for the diverse populations that San Diego State serves and made a positive impact to the SDSU community. As an educator and researcher, Oliva continues to commit her roles in mentorship and advocacy work in her future endeavors.
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In her undergraduate at UC San Diego, Oliva was a TRIO McNair scholar, TRIO Student Support Services mentor, START Neuroscience scholar, and academic mentor at San Diego Unified high schools. Following graduation, Oliva was a STEM instructor at the Elementary Institute of Science which serves elementary and middle school students from the San Diego Unified School District in Southeast San Diego.