Most students arrive on the Penn State campus as a freshman and ask, “what can this school do for me?” Jorge Zurita-Coronado arrived at University Park and asked just the opposite.
Starting his freshman year, Zurita-Coronado has been influential in all areas around campus. A political science major, Zurita-Coronado has dedicated his career at Penn State to serving others. Now a senior, he has been involved with THON, was a part of the UPUA freshman council, is president of the Penn State Latino Caucus, and was even an instrumental piece in creating the Penn State Men’s Soccer Student Section.
As the president of the Penn State Latino Caucus, Jorge Zurita-Coronado has been the voice of 17 different clubs and worked to unify the Latino community at Penn State. The Penn State Latino Caucus is a representative body that is the umbrella organization for all Latino student organizations on campus. The group’s main goal is to represent Latino students at the university level by meeting with administrators to address issues and build a trustful community.
Zurita-Coronado says that one of his main goals as president has been to create unity within the Latino community at Penn State. He says that when he first joined there was a major divide between domestic Latino students and international Latino students.
“I wanted to bring the Latino community closer together,” says Zurita-Coronado
Zurita-Coronado has been involved with the new Penn State initiative, “All In,” in hopes of improving inclusion and equity at Penn State. While he believes the initiative still has a long way to go, he is happy to be a part of it before graduating.
While Zurita-Coronado always had others in mind when it came to getting involved around campus, he doesn’t deny the benefits he has gained from Penn State.
“Campus involvement gave me so much,” Zurita-Coronado says. “I learned about myself and about Penn State. Getting involved on campus opened my eyes up to what I want to do in the future.”
“I’m interested in public service because it’s one of few careers that is not about you or a resume,” says Zurita-Coronado.
Zurita-Coronado is much more concerned about helping others than making money.
“Public service, for me, is a calling,” Zurita-Coronado says. “The way I view it is, if I don’t do it then who will?”
