For Sofia Sandoval, a future career in healthcare is driven by her passion to make people seeking mental health support feel seen, understood and supported – especially young people who may otherwise struggle to find the care they need.
That commitment is one of the reasons ProCare Injury Specialists selected Sofia Sandoval as the recipient of the 2026 ProCare Texas Health Heroes Scholarship, a $1,000 award supporting Texas students pursuing careers in healthcare.
A graduate of Brandeis High School in San Antonio, Sofia is now studying psychology at Texas State University with plans to eventually attend medical school and become an adolescent psychiatrist.
Her interest in the field is rooted in a problem she has seen firsthand: the stigma surrounding mental health, particularly within Latino and Spanish-speaking communities.
Sofia grew up with attitudes that dismissed depression, therapy and psychiatry. She later saw the consequences those attitudes can have during a psychiatric mentorship. Some patients had lived with mental health challenges for years before seeking care, while others faced long waits to see a provider.
Those experiences helped shape a clear goal for her future.
“I want to break the stigma surrounding mental health and combat the cultural norms that often force children to internalize their struggles,” she wrote in her scholarship application.
Ultimately, she hopes to provide psychiatric care to both English- and Spanish-speaking children, especially to those in communities where access to mental health services can be limited.
Turning Creativity Into Care Through Sewn for Smiles
Sofia was already finding ways to make a difference for young patients before college.
While in high school, she co-founded Sewn for Smiles, a student-led service project that creates handmade stuffed animals for pediatric patients at University Health.
The idea started with “Design a Friend” coloring sheets. Children could draw their own characters, and student volunteers would use their designs as inspiration to create handmade stuffed animals.
What began as a creative service project eventually grew into an established program, generating thousands of dollars in handmade donations and building a partnership with University Health. For Sofia, some of the most meaningful moments came from hearing how children responded to their new friends.
She remembers learning about children undergoing frequent chemotherapy treatments who had difficulty making friends outside the hospital. Some initially doubted that volunteers could turn their drawings into real stuffed animals. When those creations came back to them, reactions ranged from huge smiles to tears.
During a tour of the pediatric oncology unit, Sofia and her co-founder also heard directly from nurses and hospital staff about the difference the project was making.
“That type of feeling that you’re touching so many patients’ lives because of something you did, making so many of them happy, is something that can never be recreated,” she said.
Sewn for Smiles continues today under the leadership of students at her former high school. The program has even expanded beyond stuffed animals to include handmade headbands, cards and paper flowers for patients.
Taking the Next Step at Texas State
Now at Texas State, Sofia is starting the next phase of her pre-med journey, which she knows will take years.
She has already joined psychology and pre-medical organizations on campus and hopes to become involved with the Psychology Honor Society. Outside the classroom, she has also joined a ceramics organization – an outlet that lets her stay connected to the creativity that has been such an important part of her service work.
One of her next major goals is earning her Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) certification.
Certification courses can cost between $1,000 and $3,000, making the expense difficult to manage alongside college tuition. By helping offset her education costs, the ProCare scholarship gives Sofia more flexibility to pursue that certification and gain additional hands-on healthcare experience.
For now, Sofia is focused on doing well at Texas State and meeting others who share her passion for healthcare.
The road from a psychology classroom to practicing adolescent psychiatry is a long one, but Sofia has demonstrated the passion and compassion required to succeed in this critical specialty.
Congratulations to Sofia Sandoval, the 2026 ProCare Texas Health Heroes Scholarship recipient. We look forward to seeing where her commitment to compassionate, accessible mental healthcare takes her next.
