By John Boccacino ’03 |

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 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 2020 Orange Circle Award winners. They will receive their awards at the culminating event of Syracuse University’s Forever Orange Week.

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.

This year’s award recipients will be celebrated Thursday, March 26 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the Nancy Cantor Warehouse. The ceremony is free to all students, faculty and staff. Guests are encouraged to visit our Forever Orange Week registration page to sign up for the Orange Circle Awards and the rest of the week’s events. Registration will be live soon!

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 ShawFood Busters group photo 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.

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Meet the other recipients and read the full story on Syracuse News here.