LAST 2020 Senior Profile: Joseph Sotile

Joseph Sotile graduates from Tulane this year as a Political Science major with minors in Latin American Studies and Mathematics. His academic honors include the Tulane 34 Award and initiation into the Omicron Delta Kappa and Mortar Board national honor societies. He is especially proud of completing his coursework with a 4.0 GPA and serving as Undergraduate Student Government President. During his time at Tulane, Joseph has traveled to Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, and El Salvador, where he interned with the U.S. Department of State’s human rights portfolio. In the fall, he’ll be attending Columbia Law School in order to pursue a career in international human rights law. You might find him celebrating these impressive accomplishments with his signature one-handed cartwheel.

Reflecting on the disruption of his senior year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Joseph states that “Tulane made some of the best decisions I’ve seen any undergraduate institution make.” While he’s disheartened to miss out on the last couple of months of normal campus life and traditional celebration of achievements—as well as the opportunity to present Latin American Studies research at a conference—he’s keeping things in perspective by acknowledging that others are going through much worse during this time of crisis. He offers the following advice to future LAST minors: “Don’t be afraid to explore academically with the minor. I loved my classes in Africana Studies and Public Health that I was able to take through LAST.”