Cerrato loved Honduras, his home country, and knew he wanted to use public service to help his people thrive. But he struggled to know what role he could play because of longstanding problems in his native land. “Honduras has been misgoverned for a long time,” Hugo said. “A lot of corruption. A lot of things that could have been done better.” That corruption has sometimes occurred at the highest levels of government. In 2024, the Associated Press reported that former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez had been sentenced to 45 years in prison for helping traffickers smuggle 400 tons of cocaine into the United States. Cerrato questioned whether a Christian could serve well in government. “I’ve always been interested in politics, but I didn’t think there was anything good in it.” Then Cerrato took Politics and American Culture, a general education course, with Dr. Mark Caleb Smith, who serves as the Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities and Director of the Center for Political Studies. “I learned there could be virtue and justice and integrity in politics if you have the right mindset to serve God first and then serve the people. That shifted my perspective.” “ I learned there could be virtue and justice and integrity in politics if you have the right mindset to serve God first and then serve the people. That shifted my perspective.” 22
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