Patel has made Syracuse his home so seamlessly that it’s easy to forget that his home is nowhere near the East Coast. The Los Angeles native ended up making his mother, Binny Patel, cry for days when he announced that he was headed all the way to Syracuse for college. Binny hated the idea at first, alarmed by the brutal winters. She thought Patel had no idea what he was getting himself into.
But out of all the colleges he looked at, Syracuse was the one that checked off every box.
“It was far away from home and I was able to grow and develop in my own way without any kind of assistance from my family,” he said. “Syracuse was also everything I was looking for, in terms of the sports culture, in terms of the warm and welcoming environment — not weather-wise, but otherwise.”
The top-notch students and the highly ranked programs brought Patel to the East Coast, and it’s these qualities he rattles off in ringing tones to students and parents sizing up Syracuse, including his own. Despite her hesitations, once Binny visited the campus with Patel, she realized it was the perfect fit.
Binny hasn’t seen Patel’s passion — for school, college or culture — ebb since the time he was a boy. The family traveled a lot and Binny remembered one dinner in Australia when Patel, about six or seven years old, drew every waiter, waitress and the restaurant manager into conversation with him.
“He’s just very a kind-hearted, sweet boy,” she said. “He’s a great role model for his younger brothers.”
His brother Dylan is now running for treasurer at his high school, and Binny doubts that would have happened if Ryan hadn’t opened those doors for his brothers.
Jenna Landsman, a junior international relations and Spanish double major, has been inspired by Patel – and his wardrobe choices.
“Whenever I see him, he’s always so positive, no matter what,” she said. “He literally brightens my day because of his jacket.”
The jacket is the first of the loud things about Patel. His five-minute long Snapchat stories that document his life to friends like Landsman are a close second. Despite his packed day, Patel remains in constant touch with his family and friends, Snapchatting them, asking them to come over or in his family’s case, FaceTiming at least six times a week and calling every day.
“He legitimately cares about everyone else,” Landsman said. “He saw when he was a freshman that there needed to be a very uppy person to welcome people from LA and from the minority community. He knew he needed to be someone people looking at Syracuse could relate to.”
On the morning of the tour, Patel made sure he heard every student’s name and what they wanted to do at Syracuse. From the ringing, cheery voice ensuing from the 5-foot-5-inch man — “5-foot-6 on a good day,” he chuckled — it wasn’t at all evident that he’d clocked only five hours of sleep the previous night.
“I make giving back one of my top priorities,” he said. “The reason I got involved in that is because I cared so much about being able to provide a good experience for students. And so, by doing that, I can ensure that I’m leaving a footprint at SU.”
CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the Forever Orange Student Alumni Council was misnamed. The Daily Orange regrets this error.
