Rose-Laying Ceremony and Remembrance Scholar Convocation to Be Held Friday

The annual Convocation for Remembrance Scholars, honoring 35 outstanding students from this year’s senior class, will be held Friday, Oct. 20, at 3 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel.

The convocation will be preceded by the annual Rose-Laying Ceremony at 2:03 p.m. at the Place of Remembrance, located in front of the Hall of Languages. This ceremony memorializes the 270 people, including several students studying abroad through Syracuse University, who were killed in the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The ceremony also honors 2002-03 Lockerbie Scholar Andrew McClune, who died in 2002.

American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be provided at the Rose-Laying Ceremony, and ASL and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be provided at the convocation. The convocation will be livestreamed.

The Remembrance Scholarships are funded through an endowment supported by gifts from alumni, friends, parents and corporations. Significant support for the Remembrance Scholarships has been provided by C. Jean Thompson ’66 and Syracuse University Board of Trustees Chairman Emeritus Richard L. Thompson G’67, H’15 in memory of Jean Taylor Phelan Terry ’43 and John F. Phelan, Jean Thompson’s parents; the Fred L. Emerson Foundation; Deborah Barnes and Syracuse University Board of Trustees Chairman Emeritus Steven W. Barnes ’82, H’19; and the Syracuse Association of Zeta Psi in remembrance of our brother, Alexander Lowenstein.

Applicants for the $5,000 scholarship are asked to highlight their academic achievements, creative pursuits, leadership activities and community service. They also wrote essays and participated in interviews with members of the selection committee.

Additionally, each year, two students from Lockerbie are selected as Lockerbie Scholars. They spend one year studying at Syracuse University on a scholarship before returning to the United Kingdom to complete their university degrees. Both Syracuse University and the Lockerbie Trust support this award. This year’s scholars, Joshua Halliday and Tristan Woolley, will be recognized at the convocation.

Lois Agnew, associate provost for academic affairs and professor of writing and rhetoric in the College of Arts and Sciences, will preside over the convocation. Messages will be delivered by the Rt. Honorable David Mundell, member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and Vice Chancellor, Provost and Chief Academic Officer Gretchen Ritter. A Remembrance Scholar will speak on behalf of the group.

The 2023-24 Remembrance Scholars, their hometowns and majors are the following:

• Nicole Aponte of Franklin Square, New York, a broadcast and digital journalism major in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications;
• Christian Bevilacqua of Norwich, Connecticut, a social studies education and geography major in the School of Education, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and College of Arts and Sciences;
• Nina Chen of Palo Alto, California, a fashion design major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts;
• Dominic Chiappone of Miami, Florida, a history major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences and a broadcast and digital journalism major in the Newhouse School;
• Sophie Creager-Roberts of Charlottesville, Virginia, an environment, sustainability and policy major and history major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences and member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Daniela Dorado of Bogotá, Colombia, an advertising major in the Newhouse School;
• Mia-Marie Fields of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a biomedical engineering major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science;
• Guerdyna Gelin of Port Chester, New York, a policy studies major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences and member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Alison Gilmore of South Abington Township, Pennsylvania, a sport analytics major in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics;
• Miguel Guzman of Lima, Peru, a biotechnology major in the College of Arts and Sciences and member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Ka’ai Imaikalani I of Nu’uanu, Hawaii, a policy studies and international relations major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences;
• Benjamin Johnson of Stafford, Virginia, a computer engineering major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and member of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps;
• Kyle Kalmar of Fort Collins, Colorado, a student in the School of Architecture;
• Beizhou Li of Jiangsu, China, a political science and economics major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences;
• Lucio Maffei of West Orange, New Jersey, a political philosophy and ethics major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Grant Maxheimer of Linden, Michigan, an international relations and citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences and member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Thomas Mitchell Mazza of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a neuroscience and psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences and member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Aiden McGorry of New York, New York, a student in the School of Architecture;
• Jovanni Mosca of Corinth, New York, a computer science major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Aidan O’Connell of Manchester, New Hampshire, a political science major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences;
• Motolani Oladitan of Lagos, Nigeria, a psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences and member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Sofia Rodriguez of Miami Gardens, Florida, a communication and rhetorical studies major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts;
• Emily Saad of Allentown, Pennsylvania, a finance major in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, a creative advertising major in the Newhouse School and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Katarina Sako of Buffalo, New York, a neuroscience and biology major in the College of Arts and Sciences and member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Elliot Salas of Houston, Texas, an electrical engineering major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science;
• Mary Schieman of Mentor, Ohio, an environmental engineering major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science;
• Emily Shuman of Durham, New Hampshire, a human development and family science major in the Falk College;
• Hannah Skelton of North Caldwell, New Jersey, a political science and citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences;
• Hannah Starorypinski of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, a political science major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences and member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Otto Sutton of Corning, New York, a political science, political philosophy and history major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences;
• Anna Terzaghi of Sydney, Australia, an anthropology and international relations major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences and member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Madison Wallace of Bedford, New Hampshire, a biology and neuroscience major in the College of Arts and Sciences and member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Emily Weaver of Mount Morris, New York, an Earth and environmental sciences and forensic science major in the College of Arts and Sciences; an anthropology major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences; a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program and a member of the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps;
• Xibo Xu of Jiangsu, China, an applied data analytics major in the School of Information Studies and an international relations major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences; and
• Zhiyun (Alita) Zhang of Shanxi, China, a psychology and linguistic studies major in the College of Arts and Sciences.