The Jeff Merkley
TRIO Fellowship

Who is Senator Jeff Merkley?

Senator Jeff Merkley’s own journey reflects the promise at the heart of TRIO: that a student’s background should never determine the limits of their opportunity.

 

Raised in a working-class Oregon family and the son of a millwright, Merkley became the first person in his family to graduate from college. As a college student, an internship with Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield introduced him to public service and showed him how policy could improve the lives of individuals, families, and communities.

 

Throughout his service in the United States Senate, Merkley has maintained a strong connection to first-generation students and educational opportunity. He has supported federal investments in TRIO and has participated in bipartisan congressional efforts to protect TRIO programs and ensure that federal resources reach the students and communities they are intended to serve.

 

The Jeff Merkley TRIO Fellowship recognizes that shared commitment to educational opportunity, leadership, and public service while investing in the next generation of Oregon TRIO leaders.

Standard Guidelines for The Jeff Merkley TRIO Fellowship

Candidate:

    • Must be a current TRIO student or alum of a TRIO project in Oregon
    • Must be a registered Oregon voter
    • Must demonstrate personal achievement as a direct result of  participation in TRIO program
    • Must be able to attend Policy Seminar, OTA spring conference, and serve as the Alumni Representative on the OTA Board of Directors and attend monthly meetings. 
    • The Merkley Fellow will lead a project and chair the OTA Alumni committee.
    • The term of the Merkley Fellow will begin and end in October of each year.

 

Merkley Fellowship Incentives

  • The Merkley Fellow will have all travel accommodations provided to the annual Policy Seminar in Washington D.C. (March 8-10, 2027)
  • The Merkley fellow will have all travel accommodations provided to attend the annual Oregon TRIO Professional Development Conference. (April 25-29, 2027)
  • The OTA Fellow will receive a $1,000 award upon completion of their year of service to the Board of Directors

 

Application Process

Complete the Merkley Fellow Application Form

 

    • Personal Statement Required addressing the following questions:
      • (1) How participation in TRIO program(s) impacted your educational and professional achievement?
      • (2) You will be working on a project during your year with OTA to make an impact for students, alumni, or TRIO programs. Please provide a description and timeline of your project.
      • **1,000 Word Limit
    • Finalists will be contacted for a phone interview with the OTA selection committee in November.
    • The selected candidate will begin their term as the Merkley Fellow in January 2027

 

Past Project Examples

  • Conduct a TRIO staff survey
  • Present at our student leadership conference
  • Virtual Panel of TRIO students presentation to TRIO staff
  • Put on a high school webinar series
  • Organize a TRIO senior feedback form or alumni form to build an internal database
2026 OTA Fellow – David Hernandez

My name is David A. Hernandez, and I am an undergraduate at Oregon State University–Cascades pursuing a B.S. in Business Administration, a B.S. in Social Science with a focus in psychology, and a degree in Sustainability with a minor in Computer Science. I am a first-generation Hispanic American in my senior year, and a proud TRIO Student Support Services participant. My parents immigrated from El Salvador to Bend, Oregon, coming to the United States with little money, limited English, and no clear roadmap for navigating higher education or finances. Through perseverance and by God’s grace, they built a life for my siblings and me, even while facing debt, uncertainty, and the daily challenges of starting over in a new country. Growing up in a low- to middle-income family, college became less of a choice and more of a necessity to change the trajectory of our family tree and build a legacy that outlives me.

 

By enlisting in the Oregon Army National Guard, I was able to earn the educational benefits and discipline that made college possible. I started at Central Oregon Community College, where a small campus and strong support system helped me gain the confidence and academic foundation to succeed at the university level. Thanks to the Degree Partnership Program, my transition to OSU–Cascades was smooth—and it was there that a “random” email invitation led me to TRIO. Being accepted into TRIO meant I no longer had to navigate higher education, financial aid, and military benefits alone. With TRIO’s support, I helped bring the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program to OSU–Cascades, providing free tax preparation services to the Central Oregon community—something I am deeply proud of and that will continue long after I graduate. Outside the classroom, I serve as a Sergeant in the Oregon Army National Guard, am a licensed Peer Support Specialist in Oregon, and work in a fast-paced, leadership-track role in the private sector. These experiences have shaped my passion for making complex financial, educational, and benefits systems understandable and accessible for veterans and first-generation, low-income students. Looking ahead, I plan to pursue graduate studies in business and finance and earn credentials such as an MBA, CPA, and CFP so I can continue using data, storytelling, and advocacy to expand access to college, promote financial stability, and open doors for the students coming after me—just as TRIO has done for me.

2025 OTA Fellow – Bri Eck

My name is Brianna Eck (they/she), but most people call me Bri. I am a fourth-year nontraditional transfer student majoring in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with minors in Psychology and Philosophy at Oregon State University (OSU). Originally from California, I moved to Oregon in 2011 at the age of 19. For many years, I believed college wasn’t an option for me—I didn’t graduate high school and was navigating a tumultuous period in my life. However, earning my GED at 28 and joining the TRiO program shortly before starting community college marked a turning point in my journey. Thanks to TRiO’s dedicated counselors and support in navigating academic systems, I can confidently say I wouldn’t be where I am today without this program.


Since beginning my academic career, I have been honored with the Ford Family Opportunity Scholarship, founded the Let’s Talk About Sex club on the OSU Corvallis campus (Insta: @ltas_club), served two terms on TRiO’s Student Advisory Board, and worked as a Peer Educator for OSU’s Center for Advocacy, Prevention, and Education (CAPE). Additionally, I co-hosted the podcast Let’s Talk About with my friend Julia, hosted by KVBR (Insta: @letstalkabout_pod_).


The support of the Oregon TRiO Association and the Ford Family Foundation has been instrumental in my success as a student and community member. These programs have not only provided me with resources but also shaped one of my core values: service to others. A central theme in my journey has been recognizing the power of people’s stories. This realization deepened through my internship with Multnomah County’s Department of County Human Services, where I worked with qualitative data in the Aging, Disability, and Veterans Services Division. That experience affirmed my passion for using stories and data to drive positive community change.


Now, as I prepare to apply to graduate programs focused on research and evaluation, my goal is to develop culturally relevant frameworks that utilize intersectionality to improve community programs. I aspire to make these programs more accessible and impactful, holding doors open for others as TRiO and other programs did for me.

2023 OTA Fellow – Alejandra Lopez Nestor

My name is Alejandra Lopez Nestor, I am the daughter of immigrants from both Mexico and Guatemala and I grew up in a low-income household on the rural Oregon coast. I grew up with language, culture, and economic barriers, and seeing my parents working in strenuous labor jobs, I made it my mission to get a college degree, but as a first-generation student, I wasn’t sure where to start. 

TRIO has been instrumental in my journey to further my education, like many first-generation students my parents did not have the knowledge to help me in the process. With TRIO I didn’t have to navigate my educational path alone, I was able to transform my goals and aspirations into reality and my advisors helped me achieve the unimaginable. Currently, I am a first-year student at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts where I intend on majoring in politics with a minor in Latinx studies. 

As the daughter of immigrants from Guatemala and Mexico, my lived experiences are policy. This ranges from substandard housing, food insecurity, lack of health care needs, educational inequalities, and more. From my own experiences, I discovered my passion for policy and political change, through internships, programs, and volunteering I learned the intricacies of policy and politics at different levels of government. I learned how I could influence them to make a change for those in my community and beyond. 

TRIO has guided me in creating intergenerational change, I am breaking cycles of illiteracy, and poverty, and I hope to pave the way to a better future for those after me.

To learn more about me you can view this short documentary about me and my family in 2021.

2022 OTA Fellow – Whillamina Wise

Whillamina Wise is earning dual Baccalaureate of Arts degrees in Spanish and International Studies. She anticipates graduating cum laude in June of 2022.

 

Whillamina’s research interests include international human rights policy, gendered parenting expectations among Hispanic immigrant communities in the U.S, experiences of intimate partner violence among Latina women especially as this related to formal help seeking and immigration status. She utilizes a multidisciplinary perspective to gain a deeper understanding of the structural nature of these issues, and frequently draws upon the fields of anthropology, sociology, public policy and women’s studies.

 

She is proud to serve as a TRiO SSS ambassador and President of the TRIO Student Club, roles that allow her to share her passion for achievement in education with fellow low-income, first-generation and/or minority college students. She also serves as the President of the SOU Spanish club, coordinating opportunities for Spanish students (as well as those within other majors) to further their understanding of the language, and as a Spanish tutor for Southern Oregon University. Recently, she has also taken on teaching ESL for a local nonprofit serving the Hispanic community (Unete, Center for Farm Worker Advocacy.)

 

Whillamina is a McNair Scholar, with plans to pursue a P.h.D in an interdisciplinary field, or a program in which cross disciplinary collaboration is fostered. Her undergraduate research (pending publication) involves the experiences of unstable documentation and intimate partner violence among Latina women and utilizes a framework of the immigrant woman’s body as a site of bio political violence as it intersects with interpersonal violence. She plans to apply her graduate education to applied, advocacy focused research in the nonprofit sector. She is interested in working both domestically and abroad, on issues of immigration, globalization, gender violence, and women’s rights.

2021 OTA Fellow – Jeanette Chen

Hi everyone! My name is Jean Chen and I have been given the honorable opportunity to be an OTA Fellowship recipient this year and serve as the OTA Alumni Representative in the upcoming year.

 

I am a first-generation college student majoring in Human Development and Family Sciences with an option in Human Services. I am in my third year of college at Oregon State University (OSU), and I cannot imagine being here without the support network and services of TRiO.

 

My parents immigrated from a small Chinese village in Guangzhou to Portland, Oregon because they had very little opportunity to receive an education. They came to America with the little money they had, and they struggled to put food on the table – often sacrificing their own sustenance for my sister and I’s sake.

 

With that being said, I grew up in a low-income family and I knew that attending college was not a choice; it was a necessity and a must to mobilize our family out of the poverty that has been a theme for many generations. The only problem was being able to pay for college.

 

Luckily, during my sophomore year of high school, I joined Portland State University’s Upward Bound. My academic advisors helped me realize my true potentials by guiding me through the frameworks of applying to scholarships, colleges, internships, and so much more. Since then, I have learned what Adrienne Rich meant by “claiming an education” rather than “receiving” one.

 

TRiO gave me the chance to apply for the Dell Scholars Scholarship, and I have had the opportune chance to attend OSU with a full ride, thanks to the program’s support. I am boundlessly grateful for TRiO as its effect on me (and many others just like me) will reverberate throughout my life – positively affecting my passions, mindset, and career forever.

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