Susana Mercado 

Mercado has been a bilingual Physical Education Teacher and Health educator for the past seventeen years at a K-8th Spanish Dual-Language Immersion School in Sacramento California. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Kinesiology and Health supplement from Stanislaus State University with an emphasis in teaching education in 2002. She is currently working on several volunteer educational equity projects at a state and national level. Her ultimate goal is to receive a PhD in Social Justice Education and Administration along with publishing a K-12 bilingual (Eng/Span) Health and Physical Education Social Justice Curriculum. Mercado has been the Diversity and Social Justice Council Chair for  CAHPERD since 2019 and part of the leadership team for the past 3 years. Mercado’s social justice education work facilitated her to be selected to be part of the SHAPE America task force that is currently working on editing the National Health Standards.

Mercado takes pride in offering quality instruction that involves highly rigorous work, critical discussions without fear of diving into topics that are difficult to talk about, while providing a warm and inclusive environment for all students. Her social justice work is not limited to her classroom. She has immersed herself in her school community and volunteered in multiple capacities. She is the founder and advisor of a middle school girls empowerment program for the last ten years, co-founder of the first LGBTQIA+ (GSA) program, founder and co-founder of her schools first athletic programs (soccer/basketball), teacher representative for her school's board of directors, co-founder of student council program and co-founder of parents nutrition and wellness program. Mercado is also self motivated and committed to stay updated by continuously attending social justice workshops and annual conferences such as Teachers for Social Justice Conference, POC LGBTQ Conference, Multicultural Education Conference, Womxn of Color Conference, Ethnic Studies Conference and the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice Conference (NACRJ).

As a migrant queer brown Latina of a low social-economic background and English learner student, Mercado truly understands how her multiple identities have prepared her to become and advocate for a more just and equitable education for students such as herself. Mercado has presented professional development and student workshops to continue her advocacy work at the state and local level. Mercado profoundly believes that students’ ZIP code should not dictate the quality of an education. Access to a quality, rigorous and equitable education is every child's right; therefore, she invites you to join her in this novel yet necessary work.