Homecoming Court Nominees on Community and Connecting

Peyton-Marie Henry, Mehroj Alimov and Niervana Raphael

Every year before Drexel University’s Homecoming, students nominate their peers for recognition of their involvement, Drexel pride and general Dragon excellence. Earlier this term, 12 students were nominated to Homecoming Court and served as student ambassadors throughout the Homecoming celebrations, attending events and being recognized at the men’s basketball game.

Members of the Homecoming Court come from all over the University, from undergraduate to graduate students of all majors, and the two runners-up are honored as well as the Royal Dragon. Students who are nominated are often social, outgoing and work to make an impact on not only their futures, but also the lives of their classmates through student organizations.

Peyton-Marie Henry, sports business ’29 from the Bennett S. LeBow College of Business, and Niervana Raphael, law ’28 from the Thomas R. Kline School of Law, were this year’s runners-up.

Here’s how Henry and Raphael are making their Drexel experience their own, from co-ops to community. They’re both heavily involved in student organizations within their majors and interests and make a concerted effort to find community within Drexel and parlay that community into success in their professional and academic lives.

For her fellow students, Henry encourages them to check their emails more — there are opportunities that can show up and go missed if you don’t stay on top of it. Going to events is also important in college, she said, and you can’t be afraid to attend things by yourself and network with other attendees.

“The dance team loves to say that social anxiety fears me, and that’s a good trait to have in college because you have to be social to get through it,” Henry said. “I think if I hadn’t tried as hard to put myself out there and get to know people, I wouldn’t have had the outcome with Royal Dragon that I did. Don’t be afraid to get new experiences and shoot for the sky.”

Raphael also encourages students to be unafraid as they broaden their horizons at Drexel: Get involved in groups, bring new people and make a mark to leave for the next generation of Dragons.

“You can’t enter a club just because you want something on your résumé,” Raphael said. “You have to really like it and feel like you’re part of that group in order to make a difference. When you find something you like, go towards it and be part of it. And I know everybody says it, but be yourself. It’s the most important thing.”

Henry, who is also a member of the Drexel Dance Team, the team development director and is in charge of outreach events, bonding events and making sure that the team is developing strong relationships. Henry plans events for the team to socialize and get to know each other better and focuses on helping the rookies adapt to the life of a student-athlete in a Division I program.

“It's been great to be provide a welcoming, a warm, friendly face for them,” said Henry. “I think the best thing that’s come from this is being able to see how my team supports each other and how we grow every year.”

That support is part of what helped her get to Homecoming Court. Her friends on the team thought she’d be a good candidate because she’s always socializing and making friends — they nominated her, and Henry’s campaign began. Her teammates supported her and shared her story, and Henry reached out to her professors, who spoke about her in their classes.

“I think the whole process was like a form of networking,” Henry said. “My team made sure to send the votes to their friends and introduced me to people. I got to meet a lot of people throughout this process, and that was a great experience.”

Through the Royal Dragon process, she got to tell her peers about who she is and how she’s involved on campus, and meeting people and making strong relationships is important to Henry because she knows those interactions can help open new doors later. Being on the dance team has also broadened her horizons, she said, because she has a front seat to several different sports. She just accepted a co-op position in event and program support with US Squash at the Arlen Specter Center on campus, doing similar work to what she does with the dance team.

For her part, Raphael also makes sure to get involved in as many organizations as possible, from groups in her undergraduate law major to groups that provide space for the Black, African and Caribbean communities on campus, like the Center for Black Culture, Black Student Union (DUBSU) and West Indian Student Establishment (WISE). She said it was important to her as a Black woman at a predominantly white institution to find places where people share her experiences.

“Drexel does a really good job of giving those opportunities,” Raphael said. “It’s a very inclusive place, not just for the Black community, but with other communities as well, which I also like because I like to join other communities and participate in what they do. I spend a lot of time going to club events because it’s a great place to hang out and meet other people. And the food, of course. There’s food, music and culture.”

Her major, undergraduate law, is a small but tight-knit group, and she often takes advantage of opportunities and resources to make connections and network with the Philadelphia law community. Raphael connects often with the Women in Law group Society within Kline and learns about resources from her professors, creating a support system for her future.

Beyond resources in her community and major, Raphael makes use of mental health counseling, the Mario’s Market pantry and the Center for Inclusive Education and Scholarship (CIES), all of which help her navigate life at a fast-paced University. She goes to the CIES to use their free printing services and talk to other people, and supplements her groceries with items from Mario’s Market.

“I try to tell people about those a lot because not a lot of people know about things on campus they have access to, so it’s great to share those places,” Raphael said.

Like Henry, Raphael works to be welcoming on campus and finds that campus is welcoming to her too. She attends events and makes an effort to meet new people, which helped in her campaign to become part of the Homecoming Court. Raphael recruited her friends to help her go door-to-door and make her case for Royal Dragon.

“It was the most fun I’ve ever had starting winter quarter, which can be such a depressing phase when there’s snow and cold and nobody wants to go anywhere,” Raphael said. “It really brought a smile to my face.”