Homecoming Court

• Paige DeAngelo (Royal Dragon)
  
• Mehroj Alimov
  
• Abby Chirico
  
• Karena Escalante
  
• Avery Jaffe
  
• Carlie Relyea
  
• Chyenne Roberts
  
• Jeffrey Wang

Sadja Adam: Drexel University's mascot is a hero who evokes sentiments of vitality and passion. The mythical potent and auspicious powers are brought to life in Sajda Adam, a first-year student at Drexel. As a high school student, Sajda led a Global Cafe program that brings a global perspective to social injustice and racism. Through this program, students create a global community by meeting virtually with other students all over the world. Students share formal language sessions with one another to foster community and communication. Sajda led weekly sessions in her native language, Arabic, and worked to learn French, Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish to foster interaction with her peers abroad. This experience widened her worldview and created empathy within for people's struggles previously unknown to her. She has a passion for social justice on both a local and international level. She also was boots, ah-hem, claws on the ground on a local level — she engaged in voter registration initiatives in her school and in her community (getting 88% for her school to vote!). Her determination to give more people access to their government was recognized with a Governor's Award.

Sajda very concretely represents the wisdom and mission of the Drexel Dragon to make education assessable to everyone. During high school, she was in the National Honors Society and tutored children who were in underserved grade schools, with the vision to help them gain entrance to elite area schools. She excelled in school while teaching and mentoring these children and successfully attained a 3.8 of 4.0 weighted GPA. She comes to the school as a Liberty Scholar, Drexel's full-tuition scholarship program awarded to only 65 students. She represents the scholarship and academic achievement of Drexel. Sajda aspires to dedicate her life to helping others. She is a psychology pre-med student and hopes to work in medicine as a doctor. To this end, she has obtained an internship in which she will study the neuro psychiatric effects of viruses.

Sky Harper: Drexel University has offered numerous opportunities and has greatly supported Sky as in their journey throughout their undergraduate career. Sky has had the privilege to see multiple facets of the University and is happy to say that each area they find themself in, they are supported — this may be academically, with research, or even running Drexel Indigenous Students of the Americas. Sky wants to be a Royal Dragon because they want to serve as a voice for students and to show the diversity of Drexel University. Their hope is that they may encourage other Indigenous students to represent as best they can.

Alexis Malamas: Alexis has served the Drexel student body by providing a safe and inclusive space for students to make friends during the arduous pandemic. To combat the lack of in-person spaces to socialize on campus, they turned the Drexel Gaming Association’s social platforms into a hub of student activity. The Drexel Gaming Association discord, a virtual event and chatting platform, has reached about two-thousand students within one year. Using the common interest of gaming, Alexis has facilitated events multiple times per week, giving many new first-year students a social hub during a time when it is nonexistent. Now, incoming and continuing students alike can make friends over a common interest online when they first arrive at Drexel.

Emily McAndrews: Emily represents Drexel University at its best. She is not just one thing; she gets involved wherever she can and is incredibly multifaceted. She exemplifies school spirit as president of the DAC Pack. Her passion for the school and for our sports teams makes her the perfect fit for this role. Her passion for the arts shines through as she completes the Entertainment and Arts Management program here. She has also been involved with Inside Ambition, providing students with Drexel news and interviewing people from around campus. But more impressive than everything she has been involved in, she gives 110 percent in everything that she does. From her academics to student organizations, she is the perfect example and representation of a Drexel student — multifaceted, passionate, and ambitious.

Manav Patel: Drexel has been a great choice of college for Manav, not only professionally but also socially and physically. They’ve met numerous amazing people here, many of whom became their closest friends and mentors. Manav feels they represent Drexel by showcasing the spirit of seizing opportunities while discovering yourself in the process, even if you don't know what the end result will be. They've done this through Drexel's co-op program, as they never had any experience for their major before. The fact that Manav has already gotten a year's worth of experience in the corporate world has given them new skills and perspectives on what their future aspirations are. The people Manav has met has inspired them to pursue dreams outside of just school, which led Manav to create their very own podcast with two of their close friends. This podcast, which still continues to this day, has taught Manav about the discipline and dedication needed to, in essence, run your own company. Additionally, Manav and their friends joined intramural volleyball and basketball, which became a staple hobby and a way to gather and keep in touch throughout the entire term; they even ended up winning intramural volleyball in their very first year as a team, which was very memorable. And thus, the reason Manav aspires to be the Royal Dragon is to prove to everyone that has helped them become the person they are today that they made the right choice by believing in Manav.