Vanessa Romero Lule (she/her) is a third-year graduate student in the M.A. Clinical Psychology program at California State University Dominguez Hills on the LPCC pathway track. She graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and a Minor in Public Administration from California State University Dominguez Hills in 2021. Currently, she has joined the PERCH lab in which she is a research assistant hoping to learn more about how stress may have an impact on a child at such an early term, starting at pregnancy. She has previously worked with children herself as a College Student Aide for Long Beach Unified back in 2019 and as a Substitute Program Leader for Lynwood Unified in 2021, helping guide students in their academics while creating interactive activities for learning. 

Vanessa’s current research interests include examining educational difficulties within English Language Learners, looking at how mental health might be limited in marginalized groups, and looking at how to add to the limited research within diverse population. The populations she is most interested in researching is the children population, in particular the Latinx population as they navigate the educational system, transition into a different environment, where communication barriers come into play and how lack of support from the system can lead to poor academic standing. These interest stem from personal experience of working with this population and learning about how past experiences in these children’s native country can affect their transition in a new country where they struggle to adapt, build relationship, find access to resources, and navigate life in general. After graduating with her M.A., Vanessa plans in completing licensure for her LPCC, where she will navigate her route through internships, in order to find the population and setting she is interested in working with in the future. Beside her academic and research interests, Vanessa enjoys binge watching shows and movies, spending time with her family, and playing with her two dogs April and Wednesday.