Summit News: CVHEC Cinco de Mayo Reception with Las Hermanas Medina
Sophia, Isabela, and Paulina Medina — who perform traditional Mexican music as Las Hermanas Medina — are higher ed alumnae with Bela a grad of CVHEC member Fresno State where Paulina is currently enrolled and Sophia graduated from UC Santa Cruz. Their dad, Dr. Juan Medina, is a Fresno State alumnus also.
Hanford College-going Family Provides Cultural Flair
For our first-ever Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Summit Cinco De Mayo Reception on May 5, CVHEC is pleased to present Las Hermanas Medina, a trio of sisters raised in the Central Valley community of Hanford, California: Sophia, Isabela, and Paulina Medina who are higher ed alumnae or currently enrolled in a CVHEC member institution.
Parents Dr. Juan R. Medina and Consuelo instilled the value of sharing their Mexican heritage through participation in cultural arts programs including Mariachi and Ballet Folklórico at the Kings Cultural Center, a non-profit organization which the pair founded in 1994 in Armona, California near Hanford. (Dr. Medina is an alumnus of CVHEC member Fresno State earning a bachelor’s in biology in 1986 followed with a doctorate in medicine at UC Irvine in 1990).
Sophia, Isabela, and Paulina Medina found fulfillment in learning the history and celebration of their culture through music. The Medina Sisters are proud to contribute to special events and serve diverse populations, bringing loved ones together in song through cultural arts performance.
Meet Las Hermanas Medina de Hanford:
Sophia Medina
Sophia, a graduate of UC Santa Cruz in 2017, earned her degree in human biology. She returned to her Central Valley home and served her community as Miss Kings County 2018, worked as an emergency medical technician with American Ambulance and is currently a substitute teacher in Kings County while volunteering with the Kings Cultural Center. She hopes to pursue her master’s to become a physician assistant.
Bela Medina
Isabela graduated from CVHEC-member Fresno City College in 2017 before transferring to Fresno State where she graduated with a bachelor of arts in Sociology in 2019. She had the opportunity to travel and intern with Camp Adventure in Sasebo, Japan and Oahu, Hawaii as a counselor working with children and youth in military bases. She then moved back to Hanford and has been working as a behavior instructor with A Change in Trajectory while pursuing her master’s in applied behavior analysis through National University.
Paulina Medina
Paulina is a current undergraduate Smittcamp Family Honors College Scholar at Fresno State majoring in biology with a Spanish minor after graduating from University High School, Fresno. In college, she continued her engagement in musical arts by joining the Fresno State Mariachi. She now focuses on a research-focused education in the Biology Honors Program and concurrently works as an emergency department scribe. After graduation from Fresno State, Paulina plans to attend medical school with ambitions of becoming a healthcare provider serving underserved populations within the Central Valley
To contact Las Hermanas Medina for cultural performances, email sophia@kingsculturalcenter.org or through social media: @kingsculturalcenter.
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The Medina Sisters were featured in an ABC30 report by Elisa Navarro Sept. 13, 2021.
The Medina Family of Hanford: Paulina, Bela, mom Chely, Dad Juan and Sophia, who is the family’s first-born. Dr. Juan R. Medina and his wife founded the Kings Cultural Center in Armona where their daughters grew up learning dance and music and later teaching classes there. Here they pose at the CVHEC Summit Reception May 5, 2022 which was decorated by the Medina family and the KCC.
Dia de los Muertos 2021 at the Kings Cultural Center (Armona, Ca.) with the Medina family: Dr. Medina, wife Chely, daughters Bela, Paulina and Sophia.
