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It was a trip to the East Coast—to Baltimore—in 2023 that changed everything for Mireia Bustamante, now a junior at TLU. She and a few other students had accompanied Dr. Amanda Kaminski, assistant professor of theology, there for a weeklong experiential trip. “I had Dr. Kaminski for my theology class my freshman year,” Bustamante explains. “We ended up having discussions about my life plan, and I told her that I have always had dreams to do journalism or marketing in New York.” 

At that point, the path that lay ahead for Bustamante wasn’t quite clear, but she was pondering the options. “As I was figuring out the exact path I wanted to go down, Dr. Kaminski invited me to go to Baltimore and explore the East Coast in my own way and figure out what I was discovering.” 

In the course of that trip, the group also made a stop in Washington, DC. “The whole trip was faith-based with the focus on transformational and reconciliation learning,” says Bustamante, who, soon after returning home, decided to double major in Communication and SISE (Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship). “I became fascinated with everything SISE, especially when it came to working with nonprofits, advocacy, and faith-based learning,” she says. 

The SISE degree program is designed for students with a passion for a particular academic area combined with a desire to address a social issue. It prepares students for careers in the nonprofit or social venture arenas. The degree can be customized with concentrations in faith, culture, diversity, mental health and community interventions, or media arts for change—which is why, in Bustamante’s case, it makes such good sense paired with her studies in communication. She’s setting her own course to become the change she hopes to see in the world.

Baltimore was just the beginning for Bustamante: She’s traveled back to the East Coast—including New York—three more times since then, both for work within the SISE department and for herself.

In fact, her senior capstone project, which she presented this spring, was also influenced by that 2023 trip to Baltimore, where she dug into history and uncovered the prevalence of racial redlining in the city’s past. Redlining entails discrimination by financial institutions who refuse to offer services (think mortgages, loans, and the like) to neighborhoods which are predominantly populated by minorities—often outlined in red on maps. Baltimore was, in fact, a pioneer in such practices, and although the formal system was outlawed by the 1968 Fair Housing Act, the legacy of that discrimination, unfortunately, persists even today. Bustamante was inspired to bring the situation to light.

But the capstone project is just another milestone along her path to graduation. She wraps up her undergrad career next December. Hard to believe that only a few years ago, the Austin native was still in the process of deciding on a college. “I chose to come to TLU because I enjoyed the small campus and small class sizes,” she says. “I feel this was a good opportunity for me to really get hands-on experience during my time here at TLU.” 

She’s also been on the golf team since her freshman year. “Being on the golf team has been great. My coaches have been very supportive of the internships I have taken during my educational career and have always worked with me to make sure that I am able to balance everything,” she says. “They're a great support system.”

The ability to balance it all is vital to Bustamante, who is also a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success, the Mexican American Student Association, and student media.

On top of all of that, she’s the media coordinator for the SISE program, which keeps her on her toes. “There is always something great happening in our department,” she says. “We're constantly hosting events on campus and welcoming new students to come and join us. There's always room to grow in the SISE department, no matter what your interests or life plans are!” She adds that “it's especially great having students take advantage of the internship opportunities we provide through our good friends at Baltimore Urban Studies.” 

That’s right—Bustamante, years after she herself received the gift of that fateful trip to Baltimore, is helping to connect other students to the same. “I want to take the lessons I learned into my life after I graduate,” she says. “That trip changed my life in ways that I can’t even explain.” Which is why she’s so inspired to return the favor, and bring light to the paths of others.