Erica Sacoto, president of the Global Latinx Student Union (GLSU) at UToledo, was recognized for her dedication to supporting Toledo’s Latinx community.
As an incoming freshman in 2021, Sacoto was awarded the Latinos Del Futuro Scholarship and elected vice president of GLSU. In 2022, she received the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Diversity Advocacy and a year later, she was elected president of GLSU. Sacoto also received the 2023 Diamante Award in the Latino youth leadership category in October.
Erica Sacoto, president of the Global Latinx Student Union at UToledo, was recently recognized for her dedication to supporting Toledo’s Latinx community with the 2023 Diamante Award in the Latino youth leadership category.
“Receiving the Diamante Award for Latino youth leadership means so much to me,” Sacoto said. “I have poured my heart into building a community within GLSU for the past three years. It was a humbling experience to receive such a great honor from the Toledo community.”
Sacoto said her favorite part about being president of the GLSU organization is fostering a community for Latinx students on campus.
Alongside her role as president, Sacoto is a mentor for the Black and Latino Excellence Transition Program, a sister of Alpha Psi Lambda National Inc. Co-Ed Latino Fraternity, and a member of Blue Key National Honors Society, which recognizes the top 13 student leaders on campus.
“Being a Rocket means to step up and explore all the opportunities that you have here at the University,” she said. “Our campus has a lot of diverse organizations that you can be a part of, and I think it’s crucial for Rockets to explore these diverse spaces and truly find their family on campus. I have found my family here.”
As a criminal justice major, Sacoto said her criminal investigation classes help her to develop leadership skills that prove to be useful when she’s delegating tasks and planning events for GLSU.
“The criminal investigation classes gave criminal justice students insight into how we have to work together as a team to accomplish a challenging task.” Sacoto said.
“Similarly, this knowledge is useful when planning events for GLSU. As President, I have to delegate tasks to the GLSU executive board such as purchasing the items for the event, signing in all of the attendees, and creating ideas for future events.”
Once Sacoto graduates with her undergraduate degree in spring 2025, she said she plans to earn a master’s degree in criminal justice and then enroll in a Ph.D. program related to her major. As for her career, Sacoto said she would like to work for a government agency and eventually become a college professor.
“The classes that I have taken have allowed me to think about the different career paths that my major offers,” she said. “My professors have shown me so much support in my career path and they have helped me gain internship opportunities in criminal law.”
One of Sacoto’s biggest mentors is Professor Andrew (Mick) Dier, an associate lecturer of criminal justice in the College of Health and Human Services, who, she said, has mentored her since her freshman year by believing in her and supporting her career aspirations.
“Erica is one of the brightest students I have the pleasure of teaching,” Dier said. “One of her biggest attributes is that she is selfless and always putting others first, before her own needs.”
