Lisa Giarratano

Lisa Giarratano is Director of College Counseling at Menlo School in Atherton, California, a position she has held since June 2022. She has been with Menlo School for more than ten years, progressing from College Counselor beginning in 2015 to Associate Director of College Counseling from 2020 to 2022, before her promotion to Director. Her leadership guides the college counseling program at one of the leading independent schools in Silicon Valley, supporting students through academic planning, college list development, application strategy and postsecondary decision making.?

Before joining Menlo School, Lisa worked as a counselor at Mercy High School in Burlingame from 2012 to 2015. Earlier in her career, she focused on supporting low-income, first-generation and at-risk students through roles at Summer Search as Program Associate, UC Berkeley as a Fisher Counseling Fellow working with 6th to 8th graders at Hoover Middle School, and as a counseling intern at Del Mar High School. In her Del Mar internship, she worked with sophomores and freshmen on class scheduling for college readiness, walked seniors through the FAFSA process, coordinated CalGrant submissions and researched scholarships for students regardless of immigration status. She also worked as an Intervention Specialist at Aspiranet, providing behavioral support to clients with developmental disabilities and as a House Counselor at CSP Youth Shelter, where she led daily activities for at-risk youth aged 11 to 17 from juvenile homes and correctional facilities.?

Lisa holds a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from the University of San Francisco and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Social Behavior with a focus on Social Ecology from UC Irvine, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with Excellence in Research. Her background includes extensive research experience studying adolescent stress, marital relationships and mental health, as well as work as a research assistant in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. This combination of counseling training, research expertise and deep commitment to serving vulnerable populations informs her comprehensive approach to college counseling leadership at Menlo School.