JACKIE BARR and NICOLE BOULANGER
Jackie Barr is an information technology and public relations dual major with a minor in marketing. She is an active member of the campus community through Enactus where she helps with photography and marketing for Team Guatemala, an organization that fundraises for Mayan women by selling goods hand made by the women themselves. She is also brother of Alpha Phi Omega community service fraternity and a member of the club field hockey team.
Jackie is representing Nicole Boulanger who was a musical theater major studying abroad as part of SU’s DIPA program. On campus, she was active in musicals, the Musical Prep Club, the Folk Liturgy group and the Pep Club. She was an intelligent and dedicated student who was featured in several Syracuse productions. She also showed talent in other arts including drawing, painting and writing prose. Her last performance was in a project for the Funge Theater Class in London, which she choreographed and directed, and for which she performed her original dance about the effects of cliques in society.
SARA MILESKI and JASON COKER
Sara Mileski is a Child and Family Studies major, with Psychology and Dance minors. She is a 3rd generation member of the Orange Nation! She is a member of Kappa Omicron Nu and Phi Eta Sigma honor societies. She is also a Falk College Peer Advisor, a tutor for CFS and the Philanthropy Chair of Orange Pulse Dance Troupe and will be working with the Helping Hounds Dog Rescue to raise funds and support pet adoption. Last semester, she interned at Catholic Charities of Onondaga County and worked with their Parent Aid Program and The Incredible Years Parenting Class. Through these programs, she worked with the diverse populations of the Syracuse community. Sara is interested in a people-oriented field for her career. For the past seven years, she has worked as a mentor and leader in camp and dance settings under Stanley Wade School of Dance and the Oneonta YMCA. Her career aspirations include working with communities to understand their role in the positive development of youth. Sara is grateful for the opportunity to be a Remembrance Scholar. She is honored to work with other Syracuse students representing those we lost 26 years ago.
In 1989, Jason Coker was a junior, studying communications in the Newhouse School. He was a talented writer, and hoped to one day work in the field of journalism. At Syracuse, he was a member of the “Orangeman” and co-founded World Watch, which was an international current affairs club. Both Jason and his twin Brother Eric, went to study in London with Syracuse University’s DIPA program. The photographs Eric took of their trip showed that they had a great experience abroad, and the Christmas cards Jason sent to his friends, family and professors showed that they were ready to be home to celebrate the holidays. Sadly, we lost the brothers as they traveled back to their home in Mendham, New Jersey on Pan Am 103. Their time was cut short here, but their memories last on. Jason will be remembered as a jokester, and a really funny guy. He made everyone around him laugh and if Eric was alongside with him, the laughs doubled. He was also intelligent and extremely thoughtful. He was a great friend to many at Syracuse University during his time here. He made a positive impact on this campus, both in academics as well as social life.
RACHAEL BURKE and CYNTHIA SMITH
Rachael Burke is currently majoring in Biology, Psychology, and Ethics. She is a member of the eta chapter of Alpha Xi Delta where she served as co-director of internal philanthropy for the 2013 year. She aspires to become a physician specializing in pediatrics. Rachael learned of the Remembrance Scholarship through the medicinal chemistry lab she works in on campus. She applied with the hope of bringing a heightened awareness of global issues to her own life, as well as the Syracuse community. Rachael has always loved working with children and has held a job as specialized support worker for children with developmental disabilities.
Cynthia J. Smith was a fashion design major, who spent a significant amount of her time working with high school students struggling with drinking, substance abuse, and teen pregnancy. Cynthia is remembered by her family and former roommate as someone who “had everything going for her…she just loved life” (Edward Smith). It is Rachael’s hope that through illustrating the personal connections each scholar has to a victim, we can promote peace and a greater sense of global awareness.
JONATHAN LEE and STEPHEN BOLAND
Jon is an Information Management and Technology & Policy Studies dual major from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is a member of the University Conduct Board, University 100, WJPZ-FM, and is currently serving as an iSchool Peer Advisor. He is a former Resident Advisor and was a member of the first-place team in the 2012 MLB Advanced Media College Challenge. He spent the spring 2014 semester abroad in Madrid, Spain and is excited about his final year at Syracuse. Jon is an avid Syracuse sports fan and has attended every home football and basketball game during his time on campus. He is a strong believer that people are the most important thing in the world and that everything else is just static. He is also a big advocate for national security and hopes to work to ensure that events like Pan Am 103 never happen again. It is his dream to one day develop technology for the federal government or for a large corporation. Although graduation is right around the corner, Jon will forever call Syracuse home. He’d like to thank everyone in the Syracuse community for an amazing four years. Go Orange!
Stephen Boland was from New Hampshire. He leaves his parents John and Jane, a sister, Kelly, his paternal grandfather, and his friend Pamela Seager. A 1986 graduate of Bishop Gurtin High School in Nashua, New Hampshire, Steve received the All-Gurtin Award, given to the student who best exemplifies the academic, religious and spiritual ideals of the school. He was returning to SU where he was an advertising major in Newhouse. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta, where he was elected chapter vice-president for 1989-90 while he was abroad.
Steve’s parents describe him as “God’s personal envoy of peace and brotherhood. He extended to every human being, unconditionally, his magnetic qualities of joy, understanding, kindness and love.” His fraternity brothers agree, explaining Steve this way: “From classes to his love of the Beatles, his commitment was intense in everything he did. But Steve was not the type of person whose attitude was that of a go-getter; it was that of a friend, an advisor, a person you could trust with anything. Few people who met him weren’t attached to his love of life, something which was an inspiration to us all.”
JOHN TUMMINO and GRETCHEN DATER
John Tummino is a senior majoring in Broadcast and Digital Journalism and Political Science and minoring in Spanish from River Edge, NJ. John aspires to be a news producer when he is done with school, with an eventual goal of being a news director. John applied to be a Remembrance Scholar due to the fact that his aunt lost her husband on Pan Am 103. He is honored to serve with such an incredible group of people and represent the memory of such talented, wonderful students taken far before their time.
Gretchen Dater was a junior at the Maryland Institute of Art studying in London through Syracuse University. She lived in Ramsey, New Jersey with her parents, Tom and Joan and a brother, Christopher. Gretchen’s years at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, were the delight of her life. Her fall semester in England represented a goal that she had set for herself when entering college. Her entrance portfolio for SU’s DIPA program revealed an aesthetic sense, innate perceptual ability and acquired skill. Her experience abroad led her to appreciate original works of the masters in the museums and galleries in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Florence. Her aspiration was to apply to graduate school and continue further study in art education. She was thinking about teaching art to children on an elementary level. A posthumous exhibit of her paintings was dedicated to Gretchen’s preferred theme of peace. “Lets Reach for Peace” the theme painting which marked the exhibit was carried on board 103 by Gretchen and ultimately recovered 20 miles from the crash site. It was restored and displayed in the exhibit. College friends remember Gretchen for one attribute above all others: her broad and ever-present smile.