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Members of the Our Time Has Come Scholarship Program will have an end-of-the-year celebration at the home of Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud on Friday.

“I actually have never gone to the Our Time Has Come end of the year ceremony at the Chancellor’s house,” said Cameron Joy Gray, an OTHC scholar and senior in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “My first one was online, I believe. … So I’m very excited.”

OTHC supports underrepresented students from various backgrounds across the SU community, according to the university’s website. Rachel Vassel, an associate vice president of the Office of Multicultural Advancement, said there are 121 students in the program.

The program seeks out students that have a strong interest in leadership training, volunteering and joining a supportive community of scholars, according to the OTHC application website.

Gray said the mentorship aspect of the program has been extremely helpful. Her mentor is Tara Favors, the executive vice president and chief human resources officer at Mutual of America Financial Group.

“At first I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, like, I wonder what I’m going to have in common with my mentor?’” Gray said. “But we ended up just having so many just really meaningful chats and discussions.”

Gray also said she collaborated with Kiana Papin, another OTHC scholar, and other students on projects such as her senior thesis. Gray said that it was amazing working with students from across the university to complete her thesis project.

“The school’s predominantly white, relatively well-off individuals and both of those have never been my background, so I’ve never really understood a lot of what people are saying,” said Diego Luna, a junior OTHC scholar studying biotechnology in the College of Arts and Sciences. “(With) OTHC, I get to see a lot of people that either look like me or have seen experiences or just understand the struggles of growing up in a POC neighborhood or community.”

Luna said the program has forced him to step outside his comfort zone — he was shy coming to SU.

“That’s when you shine as an individual the most and then you quickly realize, ‘Oh, actually, this is something fun,’” he said.

“Our Time Has Come really speaks to the idea that it’s time for these students — underrepresented students, first-generation students, students that need a little extra support in some cases — that their time has come, that they have the opportunity to be successful and supported and appreciated for what they bring to our campus community,” Vassel said.

She added that she believes the name came from the OTHC program’s founder, Robert Hill, who was inspired by a similar slogan from Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign.

Scholarship eligibility will be determined by the Office of Financial Aid according to current FAFSA information, and participation in the program is limited to enrolled SU students with a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5, according to the OTHC website. The average GPA of the current cohort is 3.5.

Two essays are required on the application, the deadline of which is June 30, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. Applicants in the current cycle will be notified if they receive a scholarship in September 2022.

Asst. news editor Kyle Chouinard contributed to reporting for this article.

Published on March 29, 2022 at 11:19 pm

Contact Danny: ddamron@syr.edu | @dannyamron_