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From the time Simone Bellot learned as a freshman that one of Syracuse University’s senior class marshals was a Black woman and international student like her, she set an ongoing goal to fulfill the role in her senior year.

“I remember reading the bios for the class marshals that year, … and I just remember feeling so seen,” Bellot said.

Bellot is serving alongside MP Geiss as class marshal for the class of 2023 commencement ceremony on May 14. The two will lead a procession of other marshals representing SU’s schools and colleges. Bellot and Geiss said that in addition to their responsibility to provide feedback on university initiatives as members of the Student Advisory Committee, they’ve used their roles as class marshals over the past year to advocate for changes they want to see on campus and engage further with student organizations they represent.

“We both tried to really improve our school while we were here, and that’s the kind of legacy our class can leave,” Geiss said. “Our class of 2023, it’s a very strong class.”

Bellot, who is originally from the Bahamas, undertook chairing the Itanwa Orinwa Black graduation ceremony after first attending last spring.

“It was such a joy to go and see what happens and the celebration of culture and community,” Bellot said. “It’s like a love letter back to my class.”

Geiss, who grew up in Syracuse, works with Bellot at SU’s Office for Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement. He said he used his marshal position to advocate for improvement to the student experience at SU and the club baseball team, of which he’s been a part since his freshman year.

A double major in policy studies and physics, Geiss said he worked to expand resources across different club sports teams, and through the Student Advisory Committee, he also raised concerns about dining hall hours and off-campus housing.

As the culminating event of Geiss’s work to support the club baseball team this year, he brought the Syracuse Mets baseball team to a game.

“I went through a lot of archives and showed the history and got a lot of alums involved, and really worked with the Alumni Association to get alums involved in investing in sporting, club sports and baseball in particular,” Geiss said.

Most recently, he worked in Upstate Medical University’s Center for Vision Research. Now, following graduation, Geiss plans to attend Upstate for medical school. Geiss has also been involved with Camp Kesem, a nonprofit organization that provides support services to children of parents with cancer, in addition to playing in the SU orchestra his freshman year.

Geiss has also worked with Teng Zeng — an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering — to conduct water quality research. Zeng and Geiss presented their work at the Atlantic Coast Conference Meeting of the Minds in 2022.

Bellot has pursued research on speech pathology throughout her time at SU as a double major in communications sciences and disorders and neuroscience. Bellot is also further pursuing her education following her graduation from SU, and is set to study to become a speech language pathologist at Northwestern University.

Stephanie McMillen, an assistant professor of communications sciences and disorders, said she’s confident in Bellot’s future. The two worked together for Bellot’s research on Bahamian-Creole English in the Diversity in Language and Literacy Lab, which is part of Bellot’s final senior thesis for the Renée Crown University Honors program. Bellot credited McMillen for exposing her to the socioeconomic impacts of communication disorders.

“Simone has demonstrated resilience and leadership throughout each of her experiences at SU,” McMillen wrote in an email to The Daily Orange. “Her perseverance, optimism, and continued academic excellence make her exceptional. It sets her apart from other students and illustrates her promise as a future leader and professional.”

Outside of her academics and work with SOURCE, Bellot has worked as a peer mentor for SU’s First Year Seminar course, participated as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and served as president of the National Panhellenic Council. She said her involvement has been formative in her experience at SU in that it’s helped her find ways to engage with her passions.

“It really makes the whole experience feel like a passion project, because I’m studying things that I care about, doing research that I care about, organizations that I care about. I’m in roles where I feel like I can make a change,” Bellot said.

Ahead of leading the rest of the student marshals that represent SU’s schools and colleges during the commencement ceremony, Bellot said she and Geiss have already gotten a preview of what commencement will look like during the fall and winter convocation ceremonies.

Bellot said that as a Black international student, SU choosing her as class marshal shows the university is taking steps “in the right direction” toward sufficiently representing marginalized communities on campus.

“Having the opportunity to represent the class and represent what the class of 2023 means is just so incredibly important to me, and I’m so proud of all of those communities that I belong to,” Bellot said. “It shows that those communities are active and we’re doing things and we’re making great contributions to the university at large.”

Published on April 23, 2023 at 11:25 pm

Contact Stephanie: spwright@syr.edu