Before Tsahai Senior ever joined a research project at PennWest, she was the kind of student who wrote research papers for fun.

That early curiosity stayed with her when she arrived at PennWest to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Alongside her research interests, she immersed herself in campus life, serving as an officer in the New Life Christian Club and singing in the university choir. One simple step helped change her path: She started asking around.

“Hey, is anyone doing research? Is there anything I can get involved in?” she remembered saying.

That initiative led her to psychology professor Dr. Michael Baranski, who took her under his wing and helped open the door to years of research experience.

“The psychology department at PennWest Cal is amazing. The professors are amazing,” Tsahai said in reflection of the support and mentorship she found along the way.

Working alongside faculty, and later also with Dr. Justin Hackett, Tsahai became involved in a study focused on mindfulness meditation, in-group and out-group bias, and working memory. It was a project that challenged her to think more deeply about how people process information, how they relate to others, and how research evolves over time. Even after graduating from PennWest in December 2025 with a degree in psychology, she shared that the study continued in revised form, a sign of how invested she remained in the work.

What mattered just as much as the subject itself was what the research experience revealed.

“I was blown away,” Tsahai said, noting the extensive repetition, patience and adjustment that go into strong research. “There’s just so much repetition and retesting and all this work that has to go into it before we can call something true.”

She also loved sharing her work publicly through Strike a Spark and Creative Works, where presenting a poster and later a talk gave her the chance to explain her ideas, network and connect with others across PennWest.

Looking ahead, Tsahai’s future is taking shape. Her goal is to enter a clinical psychology PhD program and build a career around developmental psychology and trauma-informed care, especially for children who have experienced abuse.

“I really want to change the way that we treat kids and understand children’s brains,” she said.

She wants not only to study those issues, but also to help everyday people understand them better. She imagines speaking, writing, teaching and using research to help change the way children are understood and treated.

At PennWest, that vision stopped being abstract. It became a direction. What began as curiosity became confidence, mentorship and a calling grounded in both compassion and evidence.