Originally from Newton, Massachusetts, Isabella Villafuerte (CAS’24) has studied abroad in Madrid, participated in psychology research, and worked as a Facilities Supervisor at FitRec. She spends most of her time as a lab manager in the Social Development and Learning Lab, which studies how children react to the social world. As a lab manager, she assists with studies and trains incoming research assistants.
After graduation, Villafuerte plans to obtain a clinical research assistant position. She is open-minded about what field of research she will go into, looking into topics from nutrition equity to clinical psychology. Eventually, she would like to focus on working with Spanish-speaking communities here in the U.S. In the future, Villafuerte sees herself working abroad, either returning to Madrid or living in Costa Rica with her family.
Arts & Sciences caught up with Villafuerte, who is majoring in psychology and minoring in business administration and Spanish.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Arts & Sciences: What led you to choose your major and minors?
Villafuerte: I originally was a neuroscience and philosophy major, but I think I was more interested in the people and behavioral aspects, so I switched to psychology in my first semester of freshman year. I’ve never looked back, I really like it. I love learning about people and why we behave the way that we do.
What topics does the Social Development and Learning Lab conduct research on?
We research different topics around child development —specifically, fairness, equality, learning, and the different social aspects of these child development topics. For example, we just did a study on fairness and how kids perceive fairness related to their emotions. Right now we are doing a study on risk and how kids perceive risk.
What was your internship in Madrid like?
It was super cool. It was at a group therapy facility in Madrid named Federación Alcohólicos Comunidad de Madrid (FACOMA). It was for people who have alcohol use disorder. It was so fascinating, I mostly just sat in on group therapy sessions because I wasn’t equipped to moderate them. Even listening and hearing how people supported each other and hearing people’s stories was so eye-opening for me.
What is your favorite memory from Madrid?
The friends that I made and just being able to go get a coffee after class in such a cute cafe and going to get tapas with my friends after class —just the little things that let us explore Madrid on a daily basis were really fun. It put me in a new place that I had never experienced before. The language especially was so cool because I grew up in Newton my whole life. Even though my parents speak Spanish, being surrounded by people who speak Spanish was fascinating and my language skills grew exponentially. I came in thinking that I could barely have a conversation with my family and I left pursuing a Spanish minor.
Hear more from Villafuerte in a new Senior Spotlight video.
Interview by Shelby Rose Long (COM’27)