Fostering community through design

Escrito por: Emely Miranda-Aguilar 🇸🇻

Headshot of Emilie Miranda. (Isai Amaya-Diaz)

Emilie Miranda never imagined that 100 water bottles sculpted to resemble intestines would help her obtain a highly selective spot in the graphic design concentration of her studio art program.

After joining a literary magazine while a Prince George’s Community College student, she learned that she enjoyed design. She had majored in general studies with a focus on English, but upon arriving at the University of Maryland, she added studio art as a major.

Miranda, who is also minoring in technology entrepreneurship and corporate innovation and a student in the Southern Management Leadership Program, said that at a university as large as this one, she wanted to make the most of her time to avoid falling behind—a plan that would not live up to her expectations.

“I was just giving myself more than I could handle because I felt like I needed to be competitive. I was starting to put internships and education as defining my worth and identity,” Miranda said.

Miranda attended community college during the pandemic, so transitioning to a large campus was initially difficult. Miranda attempted to join various clubs and organizations to forge new friendships. However, as a commuter student, meeting times frequently clashed with her schedule. 

“I’ve always been a commuter. I just hadn’t felt the weight of it in community college because everything was online,” Miranda said. “Clubs, in general, were just hard, and that’s like the only way to be social outside of classes and engage with other people and other majors.”

One thing Miranda is grateful for is the diversity in her arts and humanities college classes, even if there aren’t many Latinx students. Taking courses such as Latin American literature has allowed her to connect with her culture in a way she hasn’t before. 

“Your culture feels not there sometimes in classes,” Miranda said. “You don’t really engage with your culture, like you have to make yourself do that... you have to really choose to connect with your culture [here].”

Family of Emilie Miranda. (Courtesy of Emilie Miranda)

Miranda’s grandparents are immigrants from El Salvador, and both her parents were born in the United States. However, Miranda sometimes feels out of touch with the culture because she did not grow up speaking Spanish. In her time in college, she has tried to embrace her Latinx identity and build up her confidence.

“I’m such a timid and shy person... I think being here, being in different environments, I’ve definitely had to learn to speak up for myself and not accept anybody’s craziness because people will try it sometimes,” Miranda said. “I had to really adjust, you know, and get past the discomfort to stand up for myself.”

Though her post-grad plans are still undecided, Miranda knows she is interested in roles that will allow her to continue designing. She is considering further education at UMD if accepted into the Master of Science in Human-Computer Interaction (HCIM) program.

“You cannot grow without putting in effort.” - Cindy Miranda