By John Boccacino ’03, G'20
After postponing the Orange Circle Awards in 2020, we are thrilled to honor these deserving alumni and student groups during the Orange Circle Awards as part of Coming Back Together 2021, held Sept. 9-12.
Transforming people’s lives through access to affordable housing, improving literacy in some of Syracuse’s most impoverished communities, using the art of step to give back, increasing public health awareness at an area high school, and providing essential medical supplies to a hospital at the epicenter of the coronavirus—five unique endeavors that highlight the Syracuse University community’s commitment to make the world a better place.
Lisa Y. Gordon G’90, president and chief executive officer of Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, Marcelle Haddix, chair of reading and language arts and a dean’s professor in the School of Education, and student organizations Black Reign Step Team, Food Busters and a Hand for Wuhan are the 2021 Orange Circle Award winners.
Recipients are altruistic members of the SU community who have done extraordinary things in the service of others. From generous financial support to selfless volunteerism, the Orange Circle Awards recognize students, faculty, staff and alumni who possess a deep responsibility for acts that better society.
These recipients will be honored during the Orange Circle Awards ceremony and reception, held from 2-4 p.m. on Sept. 9 as part of Syracuse University's Coming Back Together celebration. The awards ceremony will occur in the Grand Hall of the Daniel & Gayle D'Aniello Building, home to the National Veterans Resource Center.
Lisa Y. Gordon G’90
Gordon is president and chief executive officer of Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, a top 10 Habitat for Humanity International affiliate in the country. She is a recognized leader in transformational real estate development, creating high-quality public and private legacy projects. In her role at Atlanta Habitat, Lisa focuses on quality affordable housing, creating community spaces and neighborhood revitalization. Recognized as both a strategic leader and a consensus-builder, Gordon was elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administrators in November of 2016.
A volunteer leader, Gordon serves as chair of the advisory board of the Urban Land Institute Atlanta, as co-chair of the U.S. Council Advocacy Committee for Habitat for Humanity International and on the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs’ advisory board. Gordon, the alumna awardee, encompasses what it means to be Forever Orange. Her work is great example of the far-reaching impact transformational community redevelopment efforts can have in improving a community.
Marcelle Haddix
Haddix chairs the School of Education’s Reading and Language Arts department, and is the inaugural co-director of the Lender Center
for Social Justice. Her scholarly pursuits focus on the experiences of students of color in literacy and English teaching and teacher education, as well as the importance of centering Blackness in educational practices and spaces.
Haddix facilitates many literacy programs in the Syracuse community, including the Writing Our Lives project for urban youth writers, a Black women’s literary club and a free library project. Her work has earned her several awards, including the 2011 Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Teaching Recognition Award from Syracuse University. In conjunction with the Community Folk Arts Center in Syracuse, Haddix also created the program “Dark Girls: Celebration of Black Girlhood” in 2013 to support literacy, identity, self-esteem and social development of adolescent girls of color. Haddix, the faculty and staff awardee, is being honored for her commitment to the Greater Syracuse area and her efforts connecting the University to the community.
Black Reign Step Team
While the Black Reign Step Team is a performance-based organization, their mission extends far beyond their moves: they believe in showcasing the art of step through fellowship, discipline, unity and precision. Black Reign has deep connections to the Syracuse community and gives back through service projects both on and off campus. Team members often volunteer at Southside Academy Charter School, helping members of the school’s girls’ step team improve their performances. To celebrate their 15th anniversary, Black Reign is hosting a banquet later this semester, with proceeds benefitting Southside’s step team.
In 2018, Black Reign members collaborated with local musician Hughie Stone Fish on a music video depicting the beauty of the Syracuse community while showcasing the area in a positive light. This year, they performed at the annual OttoTHON Dance Marathon to raise money for the Golisano Center for Special Needs, which provides services to children with disabilities from all across Upstate New York.
Food Busters
Food Busters strives to improve literacy skills and public health awareness of fellow students in the Syracuse community. The organization was created in 2014 by Shaw
Center nutrition volunteer coordinators Jennifer La ’14 and Katelyn Castro ’15 and Engagement Fellow Victoria Seager G’15. It sends Syracuse University volunteers from the Shaw Center into local schools to teach students to implement lesson plans designed around content they are learning in their school or college.
This year, Food Busters worked with Henninger High School students in hands-on, STEM-focused lessons designed to explore the relationship between food, nutrition, health and media, while also increasing these students’ comprehension in the fields of literacy, mathematics and science. Along with nutrition students from the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, the Henninger High School students learned to perform their own food science experiments based on the lesson plans.
A Hand for Wuhan
With efforts led by concerned international Syracuse University students, the Center for International Services launched “A Hand for Wuhan,” a fundraising project to provide vital medical supplies to aid the city of Wuhan in China’s Hubei province, at the epicenter of the coronavirus. Ruohan Xu and Ze Zeng created the project to purchase medical supplies — including masks, goggles and coveralls —for hospitals dealing with affected patients.
Xu and Zeng are working with several Chinese student organizations, as well as the Center for International Services, to ensure supplies are delivered free of charge to Wuhan Tongji Hospital, one of the two major hospitals treating patients.
“The fundraiser at Syracuse University will purchase all medical supplies and send them directly to designated hospitals through Apex, a company that works with the Hubei government,” Xu says.