Bertha is an MCB peer advisor that knew from the beginning that biology was the path for her, especially to pursue her goal of becoming a physician. When she took her introductory biology course, MCB 150, she loved how passionate the professor was and during her time as an MCB major, she has enjoyed MCB courses about human diseases and their mechanisms the most. She is also very environmentally conscious and was on the executive board of a student organization that promotes protecting the environment. She participated in a service trip to Lima, Peru where she was able to observe medical procedures and since she speaks Spanish, she acted as a translator to the delight of the doctors: "Language barriers are an issue in the healthcare system, I've had to help my family by translating for them in hospitals and help them with paperwork which definitely helped in Lima". Bertha has also volunteered to read in English to Spanish-speaking children and helped increase their interest in STEM fields: "You look at classes where there's a handful of Latinxs and I really want to pique their interest towards STEM. I am very passionate about improving the representation of Latinxs in science".
Bertha also loves being an MCB peer advisor: "I love helping students choose classes when I started, I would visit the advising office almost every single week because I was trying to figure my life out. It is scary during freshman year because you are trying to do well and figure things out at the same time. When the opportunity came for me to return the favor and help students, I was really excited. I just tell them to breathe". If she could give her freshman-self advice she would say the following: "Take a step back, it's going to be ok. Coming from high school, I was top of the class and then in college things changed and it frightened me. But, take a step back, go to office hours. Coming from a Chicago high school, I didn't have AP classes and I learned that I don't have to compare myself to others, everyone has different backgrounds and paths".