UPDATED: Sept. 15 at 9:58 p.m.

This weekend marks the annual Orange Central event, Syracuse University’s homecoming celebration. At the football game Saturday, five women and five men will take the field, representing Syracuse’s homecoming court. Each of the senior contestants are fighting for votes to gain the title of 2016’s homecoming king and queen. Meet the students battling it out to become Syracuse royalty:

Andrew Martini

Senior public relations major

Martini has been about acting since freshman year when he was involved in First Year Player’s production of “Rent.” Since then, the senior has been involved with FYP, a cappella group Orange Appeal and his favorite musical is “Company.” He said he is a Gwen Stefani and butter pecan ice cream fan, and can name every musical that has ever won a Tony Award.

Jennie May 

Senior public relations, marketing, and supply chain management dual major

The Florida native said she first came to Syracuse for the snow and stayed for all the activities she became involved in. She knew Syracuse would be perfect after attending Home to the Dome her senior year of high school, and now gives back by leading tours of the campus for U100. May is involved in two fraternities, Alpha Gamma Delta and Delta Sigma Pi, and swims for Syracuse’s club team.

Miracle Rogers

Senior health exercise major

Rogers said she could dance since she could walk, and was inspired to attend Syracuse and study health exercise after dealing with both her mother and grandmother’s physical disabilities. Rogers is a Remembrance Scholar, and participates in research off campus among other extracurricular activities. She is also a double black belt in taekwondo. Last year, Rogers studied abroad in Costa Rica and Jamaica before traveling to Rio to work with the sports medicine team during the Olympics.

Andrew Ramos 

Senior bioengineering major

Ramos’ favorite place to be is outside: rock climbing, hiking, whitewater rafting, you name it — he’s there. He keeps busy as a Remembrance Scholar, a senior intern in Syracuse’s admissions office, a resident advisor in Haven Hall and a researcher at Engineering World Health. This summer, he worked in an engineering lab and hiked two mountains over 14,000 feet tall.

Khianna Calica 

Senior television, radio and film major

Calica applied to Syracuse on the advice of a teacher, and quickly found her home at Syracuse. She was originally enrolled in the ROTC program, but eventually dropped it and began training to become a marine. She said training to be not only a female marine, but a female marine of color has really given her perspective on her life. After she serves, she said she hopes to create her own media company.

Bilal Vaughn

Senior systems and information science major

Vaughn came into Syracuse at 315 pounds and without a clear idea of what he wanted to do, but now he plans to leave over 100 pounds lighter, with a collection of activities under his belt. He is a cheerleader, personal trainer and co-creator of the organization GRIND, which supports aspiring athletes and trainers.

Beth-Elle Schussler 

Senior nutrition major

Schussler hails from California, and is heavily involved at the David B. Falk School of Sport and Human Dynamics, as a tour guide, student ambassador and peer advisor. The nutrition major’s favorite food, ironically, is pizza, especially with ranch dressing. Students can catch her around campus working at Chipotle on Marshall Street, where she says she gets “free guac for days.”

 

Liam Sullivan

Senior newspaper and online journalism major

Sullivan is the president of his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, an orientation leader, an intern with SU News and a staff writer for The Daily Orange. He said he wasn’t originally going to apply to Syracuse, but his mom convinced him to. Now, he said he can’t imagine going anywhere else. Hailing from southern New Hampshire, Sullivan is a huge Patriots fan and loves the movie “Good Will Hunting.”

Jonathan Gordon 

Senior broadcast and digital journalism major

Gordon has been a resident advisor for the past three years, but said he can cook pretty well despite not having a kitchen. He works for U100, is a sports director for the radio station Z89 and gives the play-by-play for men’s hockey. He is a huge fan of Drake, “Inception” and “How I Met Your Mother.”

Nedda Sarshar

Senior writing and rhetoric, policy studies, citizenship and civic engagement triple major

The senior from Toronto said she wasn’t that involved in high school, and was shocked about the “explosion of opportunity” that Syracuse had to offer. Sarshar is a class marshal, Remembrance Scholar, an intern with a woman’s leadership organization and the president of the board of resident advisors. She is currently an RA in Lawrinson, watching over a group of freshman in the Maxwell learning community.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, the correct name of a cappella group Orange Appeal and the name of Andrew Martini’s favorite musical were misstated. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on September 14, 2016 at 10:26 pm

Contact Hanna: hrhorvat@syr.edu