Meet Our Summer 2024 Religion & Social Life Cohort!

Aron Basurto is a Junior from El Paso, Texas studying Medical Humanities and minoring in Business Administration. He has previously worked with Waco Family Medicine as an intern and research assistant. His research focused on the impact Centering Programs at Federal Qualified Health Centers have on pregnancy and childbirth. Aron serves as a Student Senator in Baylor’s Student Government, President of Sigma Alpha Epsilon – Texas Theta Chapter, Teaching Assistant and office worker for the Medical Humanities Department at Baylor University, and has recently been named as a 2024-2025 Provost Scholar. Aron was also named as the 2022 Fraternity Man of the Year for his leadership skills, advocacy, and pivotal role in dramatically increasing the service opportunities across campus. In the summer of 2022, Aron studied abroad at Christ Church in the United Kingdom where he developed his interest in healthcare policy. After graduation in May of 2025, Aron plans to pursue a graduate program in the United Kingdom in Medical Humanities/Healthcare Policy before returning to the United States for medical school.  

Matthew Blankenship is from San Antonio, Texas, and expects to graduate from Baylor University in December of 2024. He is an honors prelaw student majoring in political science and minoring in criminal justice. He is currently in the Honors Program as well as the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, and he serves as the Senior Executive Editor of the Baylor Undergraduate Law Review. This summer, Matthew will be working as a Policy Intern at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which serves as the public policy wing of the Southern Baptist Convention. In the past, he has worked and interned at various law firms in San Antonio and Waco, ranging from criminal defense to immigration and personal injury. He also tutors and advises students at the Baylor University Writing Center as an Undergraduate Writing Consultant. As a student intent on pursuing law school in the near future, Matthew is especially passionate about issues of constitutional and criminal law.

Bella Burns is a junior originally from Waco, Texas. Bella is majoring in business fellows, economics, and professional writing and rhetoric with a minor in political science on the pre-law track in the honors program. This summer, Bella will be interning at the Religious Freedom Institute as a research assistant. Bella had the opportunity to study abroad in the summer of 2023 in Singapore where she developed a passion for free speech and religion. Bella has served within Baylor’s Student Government as a two-year senator and has spent one year on the Senate Executive Council as the Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Bella is also involved in her sorority Chi Omega, Beta Gamma Sigma Business Honor Society, Alpha Lambda Delta Honor society, and pre-law society. After graduation, Bella plans to attend law school.

John Austin DeLozier is a junior from Orange County, California studying political science, sociology, great texts, and classics at Baylor University. He has previously worked as an investigative legal intern for the Kanawha County Public Defender’s office, a research assistant to Dr. Christopher Pieper, and a tumbling and acrobatics coach. His areas of interest are wide and varied: he has accomplished significant research on the social and national security implications of new spatial computing technologies, liberation theology’s influence on pro-democracy movements in Haiti, and gender dynamics in Hesiod’s cosmos. He enjoys cross-disciplinary conversations and community-building. On campus, he is a member of Eta Sigma Phi (the national classics honor society), the Pulse Undergraduate Research Journal, and a Community Leader (residential assistant). He is excited to experience Washington D.C. for the first time this summer.

Vicky Estefani is a rising Junior from Miami, Florida concentrating in Religion, Philosophy, and Educational Psychology through Baylor University’s Honors Program. Within this academic focus, she is particularly interested in the topics of religious extremism and the Roman Catholic Extraordinary Form. To meet her vocational goals of becoming a religious educator at a Catholic high school, she intends on matriculating into graduate school to obtain her Master’s in Theology upon completing her current degree. A testament to these goals, Vicky presently serves as the Christian Ministry Team Communications Liaison for Baylor University’s Catholic Center and as a religion tutor with the Student Athlete Center for Excellence. 

Jazmine Fajardo is a sophomore from Cape Coral, FL majoring in Political Science with minors in International Studies and Philosophy on Baylor’s Pre-Law track in the Honors and Baylor Interdisciplinary Core Programs. She has previously worked as a paralegal assistant at Avard Law Offices in Southwest Florida and as a Congressional Liaison Specialist for the Congressional Office of Representative Byron Donalds. On campus, she serves as Executive Editor of the Baylor Undergraduate Law Review for the committee on Immigration and International Law, and holds membership in the Baylor Pre-Law Society, Alpha Lambda Delta, Phi Sigma Tau, Model United Nations, and Hispanic Student Association. As a resident of the Honors Residential College, Jazmine leads the community as a College Council Chair for the Academic Committee and serves as a Political Science Mentor. She is also an avid volunteer at “La Puerta”, a local Waco community ministry where she teaches the Hispanic/Latino community in ESL, GED and citizenship classes. As an inaugural fellow for Baylor in Washington’s Summer Fellowship for Religion and Social Life, Jazmine will serve this summer in Washington, D.C. Following graduation, Jazmine hopes to attend law school and pursue International Law. 

Nathan Lee is a junior year Political Science major with a minor in Legal Reasoning and Analysis on the Pre-Law track at Baylor University and will graduate in December 2024. He is from Eastvale, California, and interned during the last fall semester as a part of the Baylor in Washington Semester Program with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Last summer, Nathan studied at the American Enterprise Institute’s Summer Honors Program during David French's seminar on "American Unity and the Promise of Pluralism" and interned with Assemblymember Bill Essayli. Nathan is involved in Model United Nations, the William Carey Cranes' Scholars Program, the Alexander Hamilton Society, and the AEI Collegiate Network where he recorded an episode of the Campus Exchange Podcast with Senior Fellow Zack Cooper on China and Competition in the Indo-Pacific. Nathan is also a part of the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, as well as the Honors Program, where he is currently writing his senior undergraduate thesis on a case study of Employment Division v. Smith and its relation to the Founding Fathers’ conception of religious liberty.

Emma Lischka is a rising senior from Bellville, Texas studying political science and history on the pre-law track. Emma will graduate from Baylor University in May 2025 with plans to attend law school and become a practicing attorney. During her time at Baylor, Emma has studied in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC) in the Baylor Honors College. This program is an interdisciplinary approach to liberal arts that fosters research, critical thinking, and communication skills. She currently serves as a Peer Instructor in World Cultures. Additionally, Emma spent a semester in D.C. through the Baylor in Washington Program where she interned with the Department of Education’s Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs where she worked on the K-12 team. Emma is a member of Delta Delta Delta, Baylor Ambassadors, and is a Hatton F. Sumners Foundation Scholar. Previously, Emma has worked on the Pete for America Campaign and as a Legal Assistant at the Bunger Law Firm.

Danielle Miller is a sophomore studying Political Science, Philosophy, International Studies, and Economics. This summer, she is interning with the Religious Freedom Institute. She belongs to Baylor’s most selective honors program: the University Scholars interdisciplinary major. At Baylor, Danielle coordinates speaking events on international affairs as an officer in Baylor’s chapter of the Alexander Hamilton Society, and has won awards as an attorney on Baylor's mock trial team. Additionally, she works as a policy debate coach for high schoolers, and is contracted to write policy research briefs at a debate sourcebook. In the summer of 2023, she interned with the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation in DC. After graduating, she hopes to work on policy research at a think tank. She enjoys reading C.S. Lewis, discussing political philosophy, and learning from everyone she meets.

Mike Ortiz is a Junior from Kerrville, Texas, double majoring in University Scholars and Political Science, with a minor in Philosophy. He was raised in San Juan, Porto Rico, where he went to high school. Mike plans to graduate in 2025 and pursue a PhD in Political Philosophy. At Baylor, he is an Honors College student, a William Carey Crane Scholar, the Chief Justice of the Baylor University Student Court, and a research assistant for Dr. Matthew P. Whelan. Mike is currently writing his undergraduate thesis with the supervision of Dr. David D. Corey, focusing on the theological grounds for the origins of political legitimacy under liberalism, and the contrasting political theology of counter-revolutionary thinkers like Joseph de Maistre and Juan Donoso Cortéz.

Grace Pixton is a rising senior at Baylor University, originally from Portland, Oregon. She is a dual major in religion, with a concentration in theology and ethics, and professional writing and rhetoric, and is minoring in history. This summer, Grace will be interning with The Center for Public Justice as their Shared Justice editorial intern. Her past experiences include working as a research and transcription assistant for Baylor Oral History, interning with Lifeway Christian Resources as the content and editorial intern for adult ministries, and serving as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion chair for the Baylor chapter of Chi Omega. Grace has a passion for the intersection between faith, social justice, and politics which she hopes to explore in her future professional endeavors. Following graduation, Grace plans to attend seminary and earn her Master of Divinity. 

Philip Sargent is a rising senior from Beaufort, South Carolina, studying Economics with a minor in Philosophy. Philip is an Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet within Detachment 810 at Baylor, where he has served as a Flight Commander and Cadet Wing Chaplain, and graduated AFROTC Field Training at Maxwell AFB, Alabama last summer. At Baylor, Philip has been a residential Community Leader, is involved in the Baylor Men’s Choir and Silver Wings, and he is on the leadership team for Reformed University Fellowship. This summer, Philip is an intern for the Department of the Air Force Office of Financial Management (SAF/FM) at the Pentagon. Upon graduation in May 2025, Philip will commission as a Second Lieutenant in the US Air Force, with the intent of classifying as a Force Support Officer. He would eventually like to pursue a seminary degree.