Alisha Palomo found her voice in psychology at HCC

In high school, Alisha Palomo sometimes went without enough food or a stable place to live. School was where she felt safe, but she struggled to stay awake in class. She did well on tests but often failed to turn in assignments. She knew how that might have looked to someone who didn’t know what was happening at home. 

“I was just exhausted,” she said. 

One class stayed with her. Palomo took introductory psychology to fill a credit, but years later, as a mother, she remembered what she had learned about children’s behavior. She used those lessons to help her children put their feelings into words and calm down when they were upset. 

Palomo got her first apartment at 18 and worked her way into retail management. She spent some time raising her first child on her own and later became a stay-at-home mother. Nearly 13 years after high school, a younger sister encouraged her to enroll at Houston City College (HCC). When Palomo thought about what she might study, she came back to psychology. 

At HCC, Palomo visited Eagle Market, the college’s food pantry, every week to help feed her family. When she made the dean’s list, the woman who ran the pantry learned that Palomo didn’t have a printer. She offered to print the notice for her so she could frame it. 

“She was like one of my greatest cheerleaders,” Palomo said. 

Palomo’s sister had also encouraged her to get involved outside class. Palomo joined HCC’s psychology club and remembers how much her voice shook the first time she spoke to the group. She went on to lead the club and later became president of the college’s chapter of Psi Beta, a psychology honor society for students at two-year colleges. 

Making the dean’s list gave Palomo a different sense of what she could accomplish in school. Leading the psychology club helped her speak with more confidence. And at Eagle Market, someone who knew how hard it was for her family to make ends meet took the time to celebrate her grades. By the time Palomo finished at HCC, she wanted to continue studying psychology and had a question she hoped to explore: How could mothers who struggle after childbirth receive better support? 

After earning her associate degree with honors, Palomo transferred to the University of Houston-Downtown, where she received a full merit scholarship. As president of the university’s Psi Chi chapter, she has helped organize events where students can meet their classmates and learn how to apply to graduate school. Studying the connection between psychology and law made her want to explore how research could shape policies that affect the support mothers receive. 

Palomo expects to graduate with honors in spring 2027 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She is writing her personal statement for Sam Houston State University’s doctoral program in clinical psychology, where she hopes to pursue an emphasis in forensic clinical psychology. 

When Palomo talks about what helped her get this far, she remembers the biology professor whose example she admired, the faculty adviser who encouraged her, and the woman at Eagle Market who wanted her to have something to frame. 

“There’s just so many people that touched my life while at HCC,” Palomo said.