In January 2022, Raquel Coronell Uribe will officially become the Harvard Crimson’s first Latinx president. 

The Harvard Crimson is the oldest daily college newspaper in the United States. Founded in 1873, the Harvard Crimson is the Ivy League university’s weekly student newspaper. 

“It's a huge honor," Coronell Uribe told NPR. “Even if it took 148 years, I'm thrilled that I get to be in the position to be that first person.”

While she is honored to have the distinction of being the first Latinx president, she is also making sure others are able to follow in her footsteps.

“I really want to make sure that this door remains open for other people,” she told NBC News.

Coronell Uribe is a history and literature major student at Harvard, and currently covers police accountability as a reporter for The Crimson.

She also leads Crimson's internal Latinx affinity group.

Latinx representation is severely lacking in student newsrooms nationwide. A recent study highlighted 75 newsrooms that were honored for their work in 2020 from either the Associated Collegiate Press or the Society of Professional Journalists. 

Of the 73 editors-in-chief at award-winning college newsrooms in Spring 2021, only 11% were Latinx, despite Latinx students comprising almost 22% of that total population. 

Coronell Uribe told NBC News that she wants to make The Crimson “a place where anybody can thrive regardless of your ethnicity or race or background or socioeconomic status.”

The journalism profession runs in Coronell Uribe’s family.

Both of her parents are well-known journalists from Colombia — her father, Daniel Coronell, an investigative journalist who later became president of Univision News; and her mother, María Cristina Uribe, a TV news anchor. 

The family fled the South American country when she was 6, after receiving death threats in response to her father’s investigative reporting. 

Seeing how many people often hide from the truth inspired Coronell Uribe to pursue a journalism career even more.

“I can't think of something more impactful than providing vital information to the people around you and allowing them to make informed and better decisions," she said. 

As president of The Crimson, Coronell Uribe hopes to see those in power prioritize diversity and inclusion.

“I want to make sure people feel and know there is a place for them at this organization,” she told The Washington Post.

Coronell Uribe credits The Crimson for helping her find a home on Harvard’s campus.

“It’s taught me so much. It’s really made me more outgoing, made me a better journalist and it’s given me some of my closest friends,” she told NBC News. 

After graduating from Harvard in 2023, Coronell Uribe will keep her options open as to her future plans. She is considering attending law school, but is likely to remain in the journalism industry in some capacity. 

“I know that in one way or another, it'll involve journalism," Coronell Uribe told CNN.