By Helen Stevenson
Jeffrey Pelayo (FCRH ‘21) is the coolest person in the sophomore class. I, as a sophomore, can confirm.
Of course, you probably already know this. If you don’t, then you haven’t met him yet and I am so sorry. I hope for your sake you do in the future.
He is vibrant, kind, stylish, funny and hardworking. He is the kind of person that makes everyone feel good about themselves, even if you just see him in passing.
He gets to know every person he meets and takes a genuine interest in their lives. Sitting down to talk to him in Starbucks, no less than five people came up to him just to greet him. It was as if I was with a celebrity.
From killing it on the dance floor for Flava, to giving advice to freshman as a Loschert RA, Pelayo seems to be amazing at everything he does.
And he does a lot.
“I’m on Flava, which I would say is like my main thing,” said Pelayo. “[I am also involved in] WFUV, the school radio, FUPAC, the Filipino club on campus [and] Mode Magazine. I was a part of CAB last year but when I became an RA it just didn’t work out with the scheduling.”
Pelayo’s involvement in extra-curricular activities itself would be considered a full time commitment — without factoring in the pressure of classes.
When asked how he managed to juggle his social, extracurricular and academic commitments, Pelayo is just as surprised at his ability to manage his time as we are.
“I still don’t know how I do it,” he said. “I guess I would just rather live my college years, or in general my life, doing what I want to do instead of just regretting it later.”
Pelayo said that without all his hard work, he wouldn’t be the person we know and love.
“Sometimes it is all a lot, but I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t take this chance now to just do what I want to do to my fullest potential,” he said.
And so he does. Every day, he works toward his fullest potential — from each early morning to the next.
“I get up at around 7:30 every day, get ready, go eat breakfast — because breakfast is important!” he said. “I have class at 8:30 – I always choose my classes to be earlier so I have a lot of time the rest of the day. I’ll be done around 12:25 or 2:15.”
As most college students do, he tries to nap after classes. However, he will typically have some sort of commitment.
“I will normally have a meeting — RA meetings [or] Mode meetings. I have WFUV once a week or twice a week. Then 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. I have practice for Flava. And then after, I do homework and go to bed at around 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. Then I do it all again,” he said.
Pelayo said he has learned to run on low energy – or find that energy in all the people around him.
“I don’t stress about it too much because I love meeting people,” he said. “You guys give me life… it’s what I do this all for.”
He also tries to focus on having an optimistic attitude during his college years, instead of dwelling on the stress of it all.
“I think my mantra for the world is just you get what you put into it. If you are pessimistic, mad or always so focused on yourself then it’s like — what are you doing all this for?” he said.
Beyond the people of Fordham and even beyond his optimistic outlook on life, he says that dancing for Flava has served as an outlet for him to release stress.
“We have this gift to just dance… to be a different person with the music. Not a lot of people get that opportunity,” he said.
“When I think of it – after college, I don’t know if I will ever be able to do this again. So I may be a little stressed now, but it’s worth it in the end and I know I’ll be happy I did this.”
Flava performs about every two weeks, the next one being on Sept. 19.
If you get the chance, please try to see a performance with Jeffrey Pelayo and the many other amazing dancers that make up the team.
They dance with confidence, elegance and strength. Every second of the show will have you smiling with their energy and gasping at their talent.
Plus, you will get to see how cool he really is in person.
