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A Look At The History, Impact Of Latinos In Action

https://www.usu.edu/latinx/

For two decades, Latinos in Action has worked to close the graduation and opportunity gap for Latino students in the United States. The organization, which began in Utah and spread across the nation, opened a chapter at Utah State University in 2018. Latinos in Action is an organization that provides support for students from middle school to college. Since the organization came to Utah State University in 2018, it has focused on helping freshmen adapt to their university experience and on providing leadership opportunities to students.

Pamela Allcott is the USU Latinos in Action coordinator at USU.

“When the Latinos in Action organization arrived here, it was through the person in charge of the Latinos in Action chapter for the universities, Burton Rojas," Allcott said. "He was the assistant to the CEO of Latinos in Action. He was the one who brought and presented the program. It was implemented when the Latinx Cultural Center started in Utah State.”

Alcott said the organization is focused on helping students who want to become community leaders have opportunities to do things like mentor other students.

“They focus on being [mentors] to other students both in high school and right here [in the university] to do community service as well," she said. "They want to be involved with everything that has to do with community service and to help others.”

Nataly Baquerizo is the newly elected president of the USU chapter and will serve for the next school year.

“I have loved everything the organization has given me. I started my first year here at Utah State and Latinos in Action, and I have gained [many] friends and experience, and I like to say that they are my family here at Logan. My favorite experience is meeting all the friends and acquaintances here at Utah State," Baquerizo said.

The organization's plans were affected during the pandemic, but now that restrictions have been lifted across the country, the organization plans to continue with activities that could not be carried out due to COVID-19.

“As the virus is already a little less a problem at the university, we are thinking of doing more activities and to get closer with Latinos who are new, freshman, and who are starting their first year," Baquerizo said. "We are thinking of getting to know them so they can have a good experience here at Utah State and at Latinos in Action.” 

Manuel Giron produces news content at UPR. As a bilingual reporter, he writes stories in English and Spanish, and is involved in all steps of the reporting process from thinking of story ideas to writing the stories and preparing them for air. He is a Senior at Utah State University majoring in Political Science and minoring in Portuguese. He loves to write, read, listen to music, and swim. He is incredibly excited about working for UPR and learning about journalism in the process.