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Before being named as Syracuse University’s two 2025 senior class marshals for the 2025 undergraduate class, Mark Nzasi and Yifan “Ivan” Shen had never met.

But as they waited with seven other finalists to interview with the Office of Student Experience’s class marshal search committee in March, Shen and Nzasi found comfort in each other’s company amidst the stress. Shen, the first interviewee, exchanged pointers with Nzasi, who was next in line to face the panel.

“I was the first person to be interviewed that day and when I came out, Mark was waiting there, and we introduced ourselves. He asked me, ‘How did it go?’ and if I had any advice,” Shen said. “We were both a little stressed about the interview, but we had this friendly exchange.”

As a student of SU’s School of Architecture, Shen said he had never knowingly crossed paths with Nzasi, a College of Arts and Sciences student, before this brief interaction. At the time, neither knew that in just a month, they would be publicly named as the 2025 university-wide class marshals.

As class marshals, Nzasi and Shen will regularly meet with administrators on behalf of their class, represent the graduating seniors at university events and lead the class during commencement at the end of the year. Marshals have also previously used their platforms to advocate for the creation of new programs on campus, Nzasi said.

Although Nzasi and Shen come from vastly different backgrounds, both academically and personally, their goals for the role align. The two said they intend to unify diverse student communities and increase on-campus engagement in the upcoming academic year.

Nzasi studies neuroscience and psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences and is also part of the Renée Crown University Honors Program. Throughout his time at the university, he has received several scholarships, including the Coronat Scholarship, the 2024-25 Remembrance Scholarship and the Sanofi Scholarship.

Before beginning his SU journey, Nzasi lived in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His parents emigrated from Kenya to Binghamton, New York, while he and his triplet brothers were infants. He then moved from Binghamton to Scranton around age 10.

“(Scranton) wasn’t a very diverse place, so it wasn’t somewhere where I was really proud of who I was or expressed (it) a lot,” Nzasi said. “When I came to SU, I found all these different communities that allowed me to find people who… celebrated my identities.”

Shen is pursuing majors in architecture and music history and cultures, as well as a minor in music performance. He is a member of the Honors Program and has also received several prestigious accolades, including the 2024-25 Remembrance Scholarship, SU Arch’s Integrated Design Studio Prize, the Asian Design Award and the Alfred L. Kaskel Scholarship.

Shen, an international student, grew up in Shanghai, China. As a child, he frequently traveled to the United States, which led to struggles with language confidence as a child, he said. Signs of his SU future appeared throughout his childhood, as he frequently drew building plans as a creative outlet and had ideas of attending college in the U.S.

Nzasi’s childhood also informed his future academic pursuits, as he frequently visited his family back in Kenya, where he noticed people in the community dying of preventable diseases. At SU, Nzasi has continued to give back to underprivileged communities by volunteering at Kitui County Referral Hospital of Kenya, teaching computer skills to African refugees in Syracuse and mentoring at local public schools, he said.

Nzasi is a member of multiple on-campus groups, including the Black Pre-Medical Society, the Upstate Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation and the historically Black fraternity Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. Through these positions, he was inspired to continue representing “people who don’t see themselves in the things they want to do” and applied for class marshal.

Tamara Hamilton, ULSAMP’s co-principal investigator and project director, said she first met Nzasi in the summer of 2023 when one of his research mentors recommended he join. She said that from the start, he was actively engaged with the organization — which is dedicated to increasing the number of underrepresented students in STEM fields — despite joining later than other students.

Since joining, Nzasi has maintained his eagerness and tenacity, exemplifying the values required to succeed in LSAMP and as a class marshal, Hamilton said.

“I always feel that Mark has all these great accomplishments that I feel like he should boast about, but he just stays humble,” Hamilton said. “What I have seen from Mark over the past two years that I’ve known him has been nothing but greatness.”

Echoing Hamilton, SU Associate Professor Marcos Parga said he has observed Shen’s humility as one of his mentors. He also said Shen is the “epitome” of how the university describes its class marshals — the university’s “most committed and thoughtful students…who exemplify the spirit of the senior class, according to the Student Experience office’s website.

Previously, Shen had never heard of the university-wide class marshal position, but was added to the applicant pool following a nomination from Vittoria Buccina, SU Arch’s assistant dean for enrollment management.

“I was doing research one day and trying to see who all the previous class marshals are and was, first of all, a little stressed at all their bios and resumes,” Shen said. “And I realized that there’s no Asian international students on that list.”

Shen mentioned that because international students often feel isolated within the larger campus community, he has actively sought involvement in various aspects of university life. Along with his architectural studies, Shen participates in the Hendricks Chapel Choir and holds leadership positions in several on-campus organizations, including co-founding the International Mentor Squad.

During Parga’s Integrated Design Studio course last semester, he said Shen was a standout student. Although he clearly excelled in architecture and produced designs “mature beyond his years,” Parga said he was just as impressed with his attentiveness and willingness to collaborate with other students.

“We had conversations that transcended the content of the studio, and went beyond that to discuss more intellectual aspects of what our profession is about,” Parga said. “I would describe him as one of my best students.”

Parga said he looks forward to having Shen in another course this upcoming semester and believes that his leadership will excel during his time as class marshal.

Nzasi and Shen have not yet finalized what projects they will work on during their one-year tenure, they said, but they plan to increase the representation of various cultural groups and unify the broader community through on-campus engagement.

“If I got out there and engage as much as possible, people will know that Asian international students or architecture students can play an active role in the school,” Shen said. “All of those identities … can coexist harmoniously.”

While their plans are still tentative, Shen said he would like to establish a frequent reading group with the two university-wide class marshals and each college’s respective marshal. He also wants to increase the number of guest lectures and extracurricular learning opportunities for students.

Nzasi said he wants to continue the work of 2015 class marshal Ronald Taylor, who played a role in the creation of the Barner-McDuffie House, formerly known as 119 Euclid. He said he would like to “enhance the student experience” by investing in similar initiatives, which aim to create spaces for students to engage with each other.

“We both serve different communities and we know different people. If we can bridge those communities and serve the entire Orange community, that would be an accomplishment,” Nzasi said.

Published on August 22, 2024 at 12:56 am

Contact Julia: jmboehni@syr.edu