St. Petersburg Campus Court

St. Petersburg Campus Homecoming 2021 Court

Darien Desir

Darien is an ambitious soul who attends the University of South Florida and recognizes the St. Petersburg campus as his home campus. Darien is a fourth-year, Criminology major who dedicates his time and effort to a plethora of USF matters. During his first year, he co-founded the Poetry Club, joined the Student Centers & Events team, sang with the USF St. Petersburg Gospel Choir, in addition to so many more USF and community affairs. Currently, Darien works in 3 different areas on campus where he is a Senior Building Manager and Social Media Coordinator with the Student Centers & Events team, a Navigator Tour Guide with the Tours Office, and the Chief Judge with the Student Government Office. Organizations he belongs to include: The Poetry Club where he is the President, the Ambassadors Program, the Alpha Phi Sigma: Criminal Justice Honor Society, the Black Student Association, and the Chess Club. Darien is committed to cultivating an experience that perpetuates excellence with equity in all expanses he interacts with.

Being a part of this tradition will make you a member of an elite group of students who represent the best and brightest of the USF student body. With that, why are you interested in running for Homecoming Court and what would you do to impact your campus if crowned?

I am interested in running for Homecoming Court because I am committed to giving back to the University of South Florida as well as the community. The opportunities that USF has granted me are irreplaceable. Exceptional education coupled with exclusive opportunities. When I first began my journey at USF, I never would have thought I would be where I am in my involvement and dedication towards USF’s brilliance. Applying for Home Coming Royalty, for instance, seemed like a distant dream that was only meant to be chased after, but never touched. I am so thankful for the positive influence previous graduates have had on me. Providing me with the courage to take on initiatives and ambitions I was hesitant to pursue. Their impression lives on inside me and everything I do for the University. With that being said, the intangible experiences have been the most impactful for me while I have attended USF. The connections made with professors, supervisors, classmates, and co-workers. I will cherish all the memories of failure, growth, and success with the connections I have made because of USF. Regardless of if I am crowned, I am going to continue to devote my efforts to USF and make it a place that mirrors the time when I first began. A place of bonds that are made effortlessly and a student body that helps one another out because we are family. If I am crowned, I will acknowledge the status and attempt to live up to the expectations of my fellow classmates and student body. I wish for the utmost safety and success for the University of South Florida, and I am not going to falter as USF has not faltered for me.

What is a highlight of your time at your USF home campus?

The University of South Florida has given me numerous highlights I will be unable to choose one. A consistency I have seen since my beginning at the USF St. Petersburg campus is all the meaningful relationships and bonds that have been formed. USF St. Petersburg is a location that truly extends the best hand forward regarding the opportunity for knowledge and connection for people. The smaller size of campus is perfect for seeking friendship and an intimate connection with fellow peers. It is pleasant to see familiar faces while traversing across the campus. Being able to identify classmates, professors, and other people without feeling uneasy. The students who run the organizations and plan events around campus genuinely create life and are the first invitations to immerse themselves into the USF St. Petersburg community. The relations made influenced me to also implement the same feeling of harmony and peace on campus as my upperclassmen. The joy of seeing the student body burst with delight and excitement for campus activities are inimitable memories and amount towards the highlight of my time at the USF St. Petersburg campus.

Elizabeth Olson

Elizabeth Olson is a driven and welcoming individual who employs these characteristics in her involvement with USF. She is open to a wide variety of activities and loves to experience new things. As a freshman, she participated in controversial discussions with the debate team, exemplifying critical thinking and diplomacy. In her sophomore year, Elizabeth sought to educate individuals about the COVID-19 vaccine at a tabling event by answering common questions related to the vaccination process and the vaccine itself. During this time, she was also an active member of Commission where she attended weekly bible study. In her current year at USF, Elizabeth has joined the Homecoming Committee to be part of the dedicated team of individuals responsible for making both Homecoming week and the Homecoming dance such a success.

I'm interested in running for Homecoming Court because being part of this elite group would allow me to further strengthen my roots as a USF student. I believe this position would allow me to grow not only as an individual but also as a member of the USF Herd. As an individual, being chosen for Homecoming Court would give me confidence and pride. As a member of the Herd, I would love to utilize those characteristics to support future applicants or anyone struggling with self-doubt. If crowned, I hope to be recognized as an approachable person that my peers can rely on when in need.

What is a highlight of your time at your USF home campus?

USF’s St. Petersburg campus has a lot to offer students. However, I’d say the highlight of my experience at St. Petersburg has been kayaking with my roommate around the Bay. A particularly unforgettable experience was seeing dolphins and stingrays while kayaking. Having activities such as renting kayaks allowed me to connect with the school as well as the surrounding area. This experience also gave me the opportunity to form a stronger connection with my roommate.

Josh Rampertab

Josh has gotten involved all around campus during his last 3 years. Because of his Peer Coach he had freshmen year, he decided to try it out and became a First-Year Peer Coach his sophomore year. At the same time, he loved design and followed his Peer Coach to Harborside Activities Board where he became the Director of Design. He also loved to talk to people and loved USF St. Pete specifically so he became a tour guide so he could share his own experiences with prospective students. Coming into Junior year he wanted to do more, so he took a Head Staff position at COMPASS and became the Transfer Peer Coach Leader where he gets to talk to new transfers coming into USF and get them used to a new college. Also, during his junior year, Josh became the President of HAB after his Peer Coach and former President of HAB graduated. Josh continues to this day to get involved where he can and help students out wherever he can as well.

I am interested in running for Homecoming Court this year because I feel like it would be super fun to be a part of an amazing group like the Court and be up there with other leaders from our campus. I would also love to participate in everything that comes with being crowned, I love to get involved any way I can, so this lines up perfectly with that statement. Also, in all honesty, I have never run for anything like Homecoming, but at the rate, I am going in my college career, from all my involvements and jobs, this would be a blast to be a part of.

What is a highlight of your time at your USF home campus?

A highlight of my time at the USF St. Pete campus must be my early involvement with COMPASS. COMPASS exposed me to what it means to be a leader, because coming into college I had zero leadership experience and no motivation to gain any. That all changed when my Peer Coach encouraged me to apply and try it out. Immediately I loved it because I was surrounded by people my age that are new to this role as well. The highlight was our COMPASS Leaders Retreat we did our first year in COMPASS. It was a getaway with all the student leaders for a weekend where we learned more about each other and how to work effectively as a team. It was such a fun weekend that made everyone in the team much closer because we shared stories about ourselves and talked about vulnerable topics that I would not have thought of but knowing that brought us all together. It was filled with fun team builders as well and we stayed in a cabin overnight, so we all had our groups and most of us are friends to this day. In high school I would never think I was ever going to go to the woods for a weekend and build my leadership skills but after doing so it was very worth it because it helped me develop into a better leader.

Julia Gennocro

Julia is a senior Mass Communications major at the St. Petersburg campus. Throughout her time as a Bull, she has been passionate about the cultivating a strong campus community feeling, which led her to become a Navigator Tour Guide. Sharing her love and passion for USF with prospective students has allowed her to recruit future Bulls and to highlight all the benefits of being a student at USF. For the past year, she has been serving her team in the role of Navigator Captain where she always brings a positive attitude and helping hand to her peers. When she is not giving tours, she can be found right next door to the St. Petersburg campus at the Tavern at Bayboro. She is known for playing music for students and professors to gather and bond outside of the classroom environment.

My interest in running for Homecoming Court is rooted in my deep love for the St. Petersburg campus. The first time I visited, I was welcomed into the campus community by fellow student leaders who later became my mentors and encouraged me to step into leadership roles. The tight-knit bond between students and the community at the St. Petersburg campus has allowed me to truly blossom into who I am today. From student leaders and professional staff to my classmates and peers, each person has taken a genuine interest to get to know me, and I strive to offer that same feeling to others at USF. The university has provided me with endless opportunities such as leadership roles and individualized educational experiences that I am endlessly grateful for. With the honor of being crowned as Homecoming Royalty, I will continue to give back to the campus community for all that it has done for me. Being a friendly face on campus and an exemplary model of what it means to be a Bull is my mission as a part of the Homecoming Royalty group.

What is a highlight of your time at your USF home campus?

One specific moment during my time at the St. Petersburg campus changed the course of my future. Being a St. Petersburg campus student has so many perks, one of them being the ability to form close relationships with professors due to the smaller class sizes. Professors get to know you, your interests, and what you would like to do after you graduate. One professor, Janet Keeler, reached out to me in the midst of a difficult and transformative period of my education with an internship opportunity. When my career path seemed so chaotic and unclear, Professor Keeler handed me a clear path toward my future. She put in a good word with the company hosting the internship, and I was granted an interview. Now, almost a year later, that internship opportunity has turned into my part-time job. Thanks to professors at the St. Petersburg campus, like Professor Keeler, students have a support system that is unlike any other. Students often care about their university, but at USF, the university cares about students in return, and for that I am forever grateful.

Justin Gursinski

For this community, I will keep us safe to avoid anything.

All my life I want to be Homecoming Royalty I made thousands of friends when I was a kid and know I have pretty amazing people at the St. Petersburg campus. I hope they will vote for me.

What is a highlight of your time at your USF home campus?

My best highlight will be attending the UMatter program with all of my awesome friends.

Karina Lowyns

Just like for everyone else, COVID-19 came as a huge shock for Karina. Her first year of college experiences, new friends, and getting away from home was delayed with no news on when it would be possible to start again. However, when it did start again, Karina jumped in headfirst by joining the COMPASS Student Life Experience! As a peer coach, she offers support, friendship, and encouragement to first years and transfers going through some of the same things she had to only a year before. As a student leader, Karina’s aim is to spread positivity and acceptance throughout the USFSP community, focusing on mental health awareness and LGBTQ+ support. Karina helps challenge her students to reach their full potential while providing a solid rock for them to lean on- one full of knowledge about the campus’s resources.

For me, the goal isn't to be superior to my classmates, but instead to be the best that I can be, and to help my peers also be the most successful version of themselves. As cheesy as it sounds, I want to make USFSP the campus full of students who have the courage, confidence, and capability to change the world. During COVID, I had to dive deep into myself...figure out who I was, what I wanted, and how I wouldn't let anybody define me. Not even myself, because to define something means to exclude the possibility of change (this is a quote I read somewhere once, although it is not mine, it is on my mind a lot of the time). I believe that we all should be constantly challenging ourselves to change for the better; sometimes we make a change for the worse but that only means we have so much more room to grow. I am running for Homecoming Court because I want every student to know that they have the capability to change the world, to be confident in themselves, and to know that they are a precious human being.

What is a highlight of your time at your USF home campus?

The entire community around USFSP is what makes it unique. There is a constant feeling of warmth and peace that it provides. My favorite memory has to be when I was on the rocking swings made of milk jugs on the waterfront. I had just supported my best friend and roommate through an all-nighter and we were both exhausted and had a little over an hour until our next class. I remember both of us curling up on the bench, rocking back in forth in the beautiful breeze. We could hear some friends tossing around a volleyball and some other students playing a game of cards. Even though it was just the two of us, I never felt more relaxed and immersed in a community. That's the amazing thing about USFSP, you can be in the crow or outside of it, but there will always be a spot for you.

Libby Casale

Since freshman year, Libby has been proud and excited to be part of the USF St. Petersburg community. Libby became a Residential Assistant her second year and won RA of the year following it, credited with fostering a fun and accepting community that included all residential students regardless of building. Additionally, Libby has helped countless students feel that USFSP is their home away from home. Libby has also been involved unofficially with several other departments on campus, always willing to help students and be connected. Libby is also a founding member of the Chancellor’s Leadership Council, which strives to educate students about leadership and have them involved in the community as a whole. The CLC has offered many different opportunities for Libby to represent USFSP, such as visiting Weihai, China, on a study abroad trip in 2019.

I am interested in running for Homecoming Court because I want to do my best to represent USFSP. If I were crowned, I would make sure to attend as many future HAB and Campus wide events as possible to be a face in the community anyone could talk to.

What is a highlight of your time at your USF home campus?

The highlight of my time at USFSP has been being able to feel connected. Through working in housing, I’ve been able to help facilitate FTIC students transition into a new phase in their life. This has always been extremely fun for me to help people find their niches, discover this goals, and overall grow into their new selves. It has been a pleasure to help guide students and have them satisfied with their college experience.

Sam Harris

Sam has been involved in the Chancellor's Leadership Council since her freshman year of college. During her past three years, she has been a programming team member for the Compass Student Experience Office, the Director of Recruitment for USF St. Petersburg campus' Dance Marathon, and the Director of Performances for Harborside Activities Board. She is also currently the president of the Puppy Raisers Club and secretary of the Food Recovery Club.

I am interested in running for Homecoming Court because USF is my home away from home and I would be grateful to represent such a wonderful university. I have grown so much in my three years here, and I want to create opportunities for current and future students to thrive and find their home like I did. If crowned, I would impact the St. Petersburg campus by creating an opt-in text account for all departments and orgs to use so students have better access at finding out about events on campus.

What is a highlight of your time at your USF home campus?

The highlight of my time at the USF St. Petersburg campus was studying abroad my sophomore year. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to travel to China, Germany, and France in the span of a month and learn about other cultures and places.