STEPHANIE ESTRADA-VARGAS

Hometown: Los Angeles, California
School: University of California-Los Angeles
Major: Psychology

Stephanie represents the South Los Angeles, California community where she was born and raised. As a first-generation student, Stephanie became aware of the vast educational disparities that are institutionalized in low-income Latino communities. Determined to overcome the educational barriers in her community, Stephanie sought out the educational resources from the TELACU College Success Program (CSP). As a TELACU CSP Scholar, she has successfully navigated through her academic and professional endeavors. In the near future, Stephanie aims to give back to her community by carrying out the TELACU CSP mission of advancing educational opportunities for the Latino community in the Southern California area.

Stephanie is currently a sophomore at the University of California, Los Angeles majoring in Psychology and prospectively minoring in Community Engagement and Social Change. While in pursuit of her undergraduate education at UCLA, she hopes to gain sufficient hands-on experience in the public health and public policy sector to narrow her ultimate career interests and delve into research projects. After her undergraduate career at UCLA, Stephanie plans to venture into public health or public policy-oriented graduate program, to ultimately obtain a Master of Public Health (MPH) or Master of Public Policy (MPP).

As a CHCI participant, Stephanie ultimately aims to enhance her legislative insight on bridging the fields of psychology and public policy to ensure affordable, accessible, and quality mental health resources for underserved Latino communities. Stephanie intends to utilize this experience to become an agent of change within her community and intergenerationally empower others.