SE Bluegrass News

A Day in the Life of Student Writer Christian Bustos

Eastern Kentucky University Colonels have probably seen Christian Bustos around the Campus Beautiful and his photo on EKU’s publications and website. Bustos, a first generation senior, broadcasting and electronic media major, started getting involved with numerous EKU promotional photoshoots in the summer of 2022 before becoming a university brand ambassador and an intern for EKU’s division of Communications and Brand Management (CBM). Now, he works as a CBM student writer and is passionate about writing feature stories highlighting community events. 

“My proudest moment while working as a student writer was when my first story was published on EKU Stories. If you look up ‘EKU Celebrates Latinx Heritage Month’ on EKU Stories, I wrote that, as well as conducted the interviews and took the picture,” Bustos said.

On top of being a student writer, he holds a part-time retail position, and on campus, he serves as the Multicultural Greek Council president, a student ambassador for the Center for Inclusive Excellence and Global Engagement (CIEGE) and vice president of his fraternity chapter—all the while maintaining a full course load. 

Bustos scheduled his classes for Mondays and Wednesdays to balance his busy schedule. Those days are filled with his senior seminar, sports promotion and motion graphics classes, along with a Muay Thai Kickboxing course held in the new Student Recreation Center to fulfill his final requirements for graduation.

He works for CBM on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, then heads to his retail position afterward and on the weekends. 

“My typical work day as a student writer consists of conducting interviews, writing stories, editing coworker’s stories and helping create social media captions for the content I write,” he said. “Occasionally, I go out to the campus community to take photos for the stories I write with EKU’s university photographer, Carsen Bryant.”

A few weeks ago, Bustos was on the roof of the Science Building interviewing members of the facilities team for an upcoming feature. When there’s an event on campus, such as the Latinx Street Fair or MLK Community Day, he’s likely there to catch a few interviews for a story.

Bustos initially applied for the CBM specialist student position as an internship to earn course credit while gaining career experience. In this position, he primarily works with the university’s public relations staff, as well as other student workers on the CBM team, collaborating on video, social media and writing projects.

“While it was not directly correlated to my major, it was closely related to my concentration, multimedia journalism, and the work I had done for the Eastern Progress, so my advisor approved it,” Bustos explained.

Bustos says his time spent in this position has helped him prepare for his future career by improving his writing skills and gaining experience in multiple writing styles.

He plans on graduating with his bachelor’s degree this May and hopes to leave an impact for students who hold the student position after him. After graduation, Bustos wants to work in the news industry or full-time at EKU.

“This university has given me so many opportunities to succeed, and I want to give back to EKU for what it has given me,” he said.

Original source can be found here.