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Seniors Lucio Maffei and Sofia Rodriguez Larosa, the class of 2024 marshals, are both serving as Remembrance Scholars for this year’s 35th anniversary Remembrance Week.

In their prominent university roles, Maffei and Rodriguez bring individual passions for social justice to their representations of victims of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing and advocacy for the student body.

When Maffei first arrived at Syracuse University in 2020, he immediately noticed a stark difference between the campus and the rest of the city of Syracuse. Going onto Marshall Street and walking around near the Interstate-81 viaduct, Maffei saw poverty that seemed to disappear when crossing the line onto campus.

“As a freshman, I was like, ‘It seems like there’s something wrong here. Why is there such a disparity between how much wealth there is in the university and then all the struggles and issues that are happening in the city?’” Maffei said.

This realization led Maffei to found the Helpful and Ethical Leadership Project (H.E.L.P) to aid people experiencing poverty through both direct and indirect aid. Through H.E.L.P., Maffei discovered a passion for social justice.

Maffei is representing all the passengers of Pan Am Flight 103 not associated with SU, a new role after the decision to not include the Coker twins following last year’s discovery of antisemitic materials in the brothers’ archives.

The opportunity to learn about a range of people who were on the flight from different backgrounds has been interesting and eye-opening, Maffei said.

“We think of this as such a tragedy because 35 of our students died, which it is, but it is such a larger tragedy with all these separate families that we as a university don’t talk about as much,” Maffei said.

Rodriguez said the weight of representing people whose life was taken away has set in as they go through Remembrance Week. Rodriguez is representing Sarah Philipps, a 20-year-old from the University of Colorado.

As class marshals, Maffei and Rodriguez represent the Class of 2024 at events like convocation and graduation. Beyond the ceremonial aspects of the position, Rodriguez and Maffei meet regularly with Rob Hradsky, vice president of the student experience, to discuss ongoing student initiatives.

Maffei and Rodriguez crossed paths as resident advisors in the same complex last year, but the class marshal role has allowed them to connect further, Maffei said. He said their working relationship allows the pair to come into meetings on a unified front.

Rodriguez said she never feels like she is alone with Maffei as a counterpart.

“Working with him has been absolutely fantastic, being at meetings with him has been absolutely fantastic. He’s hilarious, he’s brilliant, he’s kind,” Rodriguez said.

Hailing from an Afro-Cuban family in Miami Gardens, Florida, Rodriguez said they view the class marshal role as an opportunity to connect with new people and voice their concerns to people higher up in the institution to make sure all people feel seen and heard.

“My goal as senior class marshal is really just solidifying and acknowledging the presence of people who have been the backbone to the institution, whether that be from creative fields to STEM fields,” Rodriguez, a communication and rhetoric major, said. “It’s really just listening to our student body and representing them and trying the best to do so.”

For Maffei, who is from West Orange, New Jersey, being a class marshal opened the door to other opportunities in student representation. He now serves on the Student Association’s Cabinet as Student Advocate. Maffei said his advocacy-based student leadership positions have led him to think about how to effectively reflect the group he is representing.

“There’s more weight to those decisions, when it’s not just like, ‘Lucio thought this, it’s like Lucio put this on to a bunch of different people or his whole class,’” Maffei said.

Representing the entire class of 2024 has both created pressure and promoted self-awareness about how she represents herself, her character and her communities, Rodriguez said. They said their culture and experience as a first-generation student guides much of what they do, both in leadership roles and life in general.

“Being Afro-Cuban has played the most prominent role in the ways that I navigate every space that I enter, from music to education to networking events,” said Rodriguez, who noted their pride in their gender non-conforming Afro-Latiné identity. “Somehow, someway, my culture is connected to that because existing in authentic ways and identity serves as a form of a protest and resistance to identities that are expected to be the norm.”

Erin Rand, an associate professor of communication and rhetorical studies at SU, has known Rodriguez since she took one of Rand’s classes last fall. Rand said she has appreciated that Rodriguez is clear in expressing their identity and advocating for others.

“I really appreciate how they’re willing to not just speak for themselves but to kind of speak about the ways that those intersectional identities really matter in the world, for other people as well to kind of encourage their classmates to think about not just personal identities, but also systemic inequalities,” Rand said.

Rodriguez believes that randomly selecting Philipps to represent was, to an extent, due to “fate,” as the two have many things in common. They said Philipps was known to bring laughter and joy into every room she entered, which is how they are trying to navigate Remembrance and celebrate Philipps’ life moving forward.

In conversations with Rodriguez outside of class, Rand said she’s seen this humor shine through, on top of Rodriguez’s maturity in engaging with Rand as another human, not just as a professor.

Though they come from very different backgrounds, both Rodriguez and Maffei were interested in attending SU because of the programs and opportunities available and came because of the scholarships offered to them.

Maffei, who is majoring in political philosophy and ethics, has always prioritized his passions in all the work he does, said Michael Rieppel, associate professor of philosophy and director of undergraduate studies in philosophy.

Last year, Maffei approached Rieppel about chartering a chapter of Phi Sigma Tau, the international philosophy honors fraternity, Rieppel said. Though Rieppel’s answer was initially no, he eventually came around to the idea, largely due to Maffei’s perseverance, Rieppel said.

“He’s very good at working with other people, organizing people, getting people on board with his projects and getting them to participate and take on roles within the kinds of projects he wants to have,” Rieppel said.

Maffei also led the creation of the Aurantium Syracuse University Undergraduate Philosophy Journal. After a casual suggestion by Rieppel, Maffei took the initiative to assemble a team of students to write and edit the publication later this past spring, Rieppel said. Maffei now serves as the journal’s editor-in-chief.

“I don’t really know where he gets the energy for it, but it’s pretty impressive that he’s somehow able to do all the things he does and does them well,” Rieppel said.

Rodriguez is an Our Time Has Come Scholar, a program that connects first-generation and underrepresented students with financial resources and alumni to help them achieve their career goals, according to its website. Rodriguez points to OTHC as an aid for how they navigate Syracuse as a person of color.

“I’ve been able to find a sense of community, I’ve been able to find my main mentors,” Rodriguez said. “My community really started out with OTHC.”

Bradley Seymour, an associate teaching professor of psychology and Rodriguez’s Posse mentor, shared a similar sentiment. Balancing all of the extracurricular and academic endeavors and still prioritizing being compassionate to others is inspiring, Seymour said.

He said he’s spent several hours each week with Rodriguez since their freshman year and emphasized that their continued heart and dedication is one of the best parts of working with them. Rodriguez is also always looking out for people who are suffering and who need help as well as keeping social justice in mind, he said.

“It’s that kind of compassion and that heart that we need more of in this world. I just wish more people were like (Sofia),” Seymour said.

Through his involvement in mock trial at SU, Maffei has been developing these advocacy skills for the past few years, said Joanne Van Dyke, a lawyer and adjunct professor who serves as the coach and coordinator for the SU Mock Trial team.

She said that Maffei is both analytical and communicative, making him someone she can rely on to get things done.

“That’s an incredible quality — somebody who can be a leader but makes everyone feel like they’re a part of the team, and he does that. I think that that’s an incredibly mature way of handling that role,” Van Dyke said.

As their final year at SU progresses, both Maffei and Rodriguez are working towards the next step in their education. Maffei said he hopes to attend law school on the east coast, and Rodriguez plans to pursue a graduate degree for political journalism. Rodriguez said they are honored to receive such a high award from SU.

“Freshman year Sofia didn’t think that I would even make it to senior year in this institution and the fact that I did and received class marshal literally leaves me speechless,” Rodriguez said.

Published on October 18, 2023 at 2:25 am

Contact Claire: charri39@syr.edu