From farmer to advocate and more
Felipe Lopez Sustaita poses for a picture in his office. Photo by Emmett Roman.
By Emmett Roman
Staff Reporter
Felipe Lopez Sustaita is the associate dean for the Center for Student Support at Lansing Community College. Lopez Sustaita started working at LCC in 2008 after graduating with his master’s degree, beginning as an academic advisor. He had filled out several applications and gotten no responses until Lansing Community College gave him a chance. Later on, he worked in a dual role with the LUCERO (Latinos Unidos con Energia Respeto y Orgullo) program, which works with Latinx and Hispanic students. But now, his job is in administrative work at LCC: “I oversee five programs and our main job is really to support students,” Lopez Sustaita said. “When the semester has started, we help them. If they're struggling, if they need counseling or they need accommodations, that's where we step in and making sure that they finish.”
Lopez Sustaita grew up in a farming household, and his family never stayed in one place for a long time, causing his school days to start during the school year or towards the end. “Every year we were just moving—a lot of poverty, a lot of injustices,” Lopez Sustaita said. “We lived in small migrant camps. A family of 10 or so sharing a kitchen, bathroom, everything in one room, everything. So, I slept on the floor my entire childhood until I came to Michigan State.”
When Lopez Sustaita went to Michigan State University, he had nothing but a couple of trash bags with his personal items and his farming experience. Because his education was so disrupted, his reading and writing skills were still at an elementary level. However, that did not stop him. He was able to graduate in four years with a degree in criminal justice, and he continued his education from there. He began a master’s degree program in social work because of a mentor at Michigan State University. “She said that I would be an amazing social worker. I never met this woman, but that connection. She believed so much in me that she would like call me doctor. And that just spoke to me,” Lopez Sustaita said.
Lopez Sustaita has studied abroad in five countries. One memory he has is when he studied abroad in Ghana during his master’s program. He had gone there to offer counseling to young boys in the area. “I didn't fly with the group. I got there at midnight, and this guy was my taxi driver and I didn't know where I was staying,” Lopez Sustaita said. “He let me stay at his place—and I mean, a complete stranger. They invited me to dinner. And so, I was with his entire family eating.” To him, this was a completely different experience than how he had been treated in the United States. In his own words, he had always been considered “dangerous.” However, in Ghana, he was welcomed with open arms, no matter his appearance.
Lopez Sustaita with his Ghanaian taxi driver and his family. Photo courtesy of Lopez
Sustaita.
During his master’s program, Lopez Sustaita met his wife. They were both getting their master’s in social work and both were first generation college students. After meeting and getting married, they had four boys. “Obviously, my kids have opportunities that I didn't have. That's probably been my best job, being a parent to support them on their journey,” Lopez Sustaita said. But his life isn’t always just about work. Lopez Sustaita also has a black belt in tae kwon do. It began as a way to bond with his kids and encourage them to be active. It took him six years to obtain his black belt, and his sons around seven. Nowadays, he still practices tae kwon do, and one of his sons is an instructor for the younger kids at their school.
In 2016, the state was looking for an executive director for the Hispanic-Latino Commission. Lopez Sustaita was offered the position and took it. He served under both Republican and Democratic governors, working with Governor Snyder for two and a half years and then with Governor Whitmer for another two and a half years. “My role in that position was to go all over the state and really listen and advocate in all the state departments,” Lopez Sustaita said. “I was basically the voice for half a million Hispanics in the state. From prison reform to minimum wage, I was the person that was a voice that had the direct access to the governor, state appropriations and the House. It was a big job. I was really young too. I was like 30-31. And it's almost like I went from the back of the line, being just an illiterate farm worker, to sitting at the tables in boardrooms. But I maintained that humility. And I think that's from my family still working in the fields and having that humbleness of still going back and not forgetting my roots.”
Lopez Sustaita has dedicated his work life to helping those around him who need an opportunity like he was given. He continues to advocate for students within Lansing Community College and help them with the issues they may be facing.
“Sometimes people will laugh at your goals. And it's ok, because for them they might be impossible, but they don't know what you know,” Lopez Sustaita said.
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