University of Vermont graduate student Tamara Aguirre Torres is studying for a master’s degree in special education, planning a career as an educational psychologist.

She hopes to use her degree to create opportunities for children to overcome any obstacle they have in education. “But as my mom used to say, ‘Wanna make God laugh? Tell Him your plans,’” said the native of Mexico. “I was also thinking in doing a [doctorate] in sociology,

researching about the family and how to help families with kids with disabilities.”

She believes that educators create the future generations of the world, helping parents with their families: “If you do a good job, you create people with unique values and

aptitudes.”

Set to graduate in May 2024, Torres, 25, is active at the Catholic Center at the university in Burlington where she attends Mass. She has participated in bible study and read in Spanish at the vigil on Holy Saturday.

“The Catholic Center has given me a place to study, relax and to be with the Lord, doing my daily tasks,” she said. “It also has given me two of my best friends in Vermont that have helped me to be a better version of myself as a person and as a student.”

Her faith is important to her because “it shows the answer to the big ‘why’ in this life,” she said. “Without God, this life becomes a daily routine of working just to achieve money or a better house or a better car. While all of that is important, it is not the most important thing.”

Torres knows that no matter where you are, Christ is with you “and you can take Christ to others.”

—Originally published in the Fall 2023 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.