Loyola student leaders welcome Mayor Brandon Scott for conversation on bridging campus and community
Loyola University Maryland student leaders from the Student Government Association (SGA) and the Center for Community, Service, and Justice (CCSJ) hosted Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott for a conversation on bridging campus and community on Thursday, April 16.
The event was entirely student-led, with seniors Gabriel Gómez, ’26, Ifeoma Ezeani, ’26, and Braeden DiFranceiso, ’26, coordinating with the Mayor’s Office to schedule the event. Gómez and Ezeani moderated the discussion with Mayor Scott—which covered student leadership, civic engagement, and the future of Baltimore—before taking questions from the audience.
“Service is huge for me. That's why I'm part of CCSJ and SGA,” said Gómez, a political science major who serves as the executive vice president of the SGA and as the advocacy and civic engagement coordinator for CCSJ. “The mayor has a history as a student leader. His recognizing that Loyola students are leaders that the city needs allowed for us to make that bridge, to see how we can continue to get students involved and what opportunities exist to continue partnering with City Hall moving forward.”
Mayor Scott, who was the president of the Black Student Union and the student representative on the diversity committee at St. Mary’s College in Maryland, spoke of his own experiences as a student leader and how they prepared him for his current role.
“I always tell students my job hasn’t changed much since then, but my constituents and responsibilities have grown,” said Scott, the 52nd Mayor of Baltimore.
Upon graduating, Gómez will be pursuing his master’s in curriculum and instruction for social justice from Loyola’s School of Education while engaged in a teaching fellowship at St. Ignatius Academy in Baltimore. He hopes that the event with Mayor Scott will inspire students to get involved in leadership and service roles while continuing to destigmatize Baltimore.
“We want to inspire the student leaders in this room and students in general to continue to do this work and to know that they are seen and that the work we do is important.”