Mary Louise Romero is a Restorative Justice Coordinator for the Santa Fe Public School district.  She serves all high schools and middle schools. 

Mary Louise has spent most of her life in Santa Fe. She went to Highlands University and the University of Phoenix where she studied social work and psychology. She says her favorite thing about college is that she got to play collegiate sports such as volleyball and softball.

As a child, Mary Louise had a speech impediment; she was born deaf in her right ear and has just 57 percent hearing in her left ear. Most of her life she was surrounded by helpful people, especially her teachers, who were nuns at the Catholic school she attended. This is why she now loves helping people. “I like building healthy relationships and helping people,” she said. “I hope to make a positive difference in the world, to make it a better place.

“If today was my last day to live, I would want to be remembered by how much I loved, how much every person mattered to me. My hope is that nobody ever felt judged by me, and finally, how much I cared,” she said. 

Mary Louise is an outgoing person who is always up for anything that will put a smile on her face. She enjoys going to the gym and spending quality time with her friends. She adopted her son when he was 10 years old. She will soon be a grandma and is very excited about it. 

In the future, she explains, “I see myself serving people, especially students, until I am no longer alive to do so.”