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At 6’5” with a build like a Mack truck, Colin Ems ‘27PA, is an imposing figure on the basketball court.
Warming up prior to the first-ever Drexel Homecoming basketball game at the Hafter Student Community Center on the Elkins Park campus pitting a co-ed team of students against a team of faculty, staff, and alumni, Ems issued a warning to his opponents: “I think they’re scared of us. We’re the defending champs,” he said.
Ems’ team, PA Power, won the 2025 fall campus recreational three-on-three league and all three of those players were on the student team.
At the other end of the court, David Meltzer, OD ‘02, MBA, FAAO, executive director for The Eye Institute Operations and assistant professor in the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Drexel University, was having none of Ems’ trash-talking.
“I don’t play to lose. I don’t know what program he’s in, but I might threaten his grades,” said Dr. Meltzer, tongue in cheek, who was joined on the faculty, staff, and alumni team by Ben Seigel, OD ‘25, Alex Kirn, OD ‘25, ‘26Resident, Joe Riley, manager of the Hafter Center, and the slick and quick long-range sharpshooter, Shaimir Joe, Admissions officer at Elkins Park.
When informed Ems was a student in the Salus at Drexel University Physician Assistant Studies Program, Meltzer was unbowed. “I know some of the PA faculty,” he said.
The good-natured back-and-forth was part of the overall Homecoming event, the first-ever celebrated at the Elkins Park campus since the formalization of the merger between Salus University and Drexel University in mid-2025.
Turns out Ems and his teammates were able to back up their reputations on the hardwood. When the dust settled, it was the team of students who prevailed, winning the game 109 to 98.
Kynton Grays ‘28OD, who graduated from Indiana University in 2023 with a degree in human biology, was also part of the student team for the basketball game. Indiana University (IU), a traditionally strong basketball program, is coming off its first-ever NCAA college football national championship and Grays is still pumped about it.
“I spent a lot of time at IU, my mother graduated from there, my dad, my cousins. But I wanted to venture out, try something new, and try a new city,” said Grays. “Drexel’s Elkins Park campus was just the perfect fit for me. I love the early clinical experience (at PCO) and when I came here, it felt like family.”
The weather mostly cooperated for the event, dubbed “Ignite the Night” on the Elkins Park campus, that featured fire pits where students, faculty and staff alike could enjoy s’mores, festive drinks, food trucks, a pillow-stuffing station, caricature prints, mugs with printed photos and a limited-edition sweatshirt for the first 200 attendees.
Milana Yakubova ‘26OD and Michael McNeal ‘26OD, grabbed their food and stationed themselves around one of the fire pits. “It looked like a cool event so I thought I might as well check it out,” said Yakubova, who hails from New York. “There’s a fire to keep me warm so I don’t feel the cold as much.”
McNeal, who is originally from Missouri, chose tacos for dinner from the Dos Hermanos Tacos food truck, who along with Humpty’s Dumplings and Red Stone Pizza had food trucks at the event, said he was a cold-weather person, so the chilly temperature didn’t bother him.
“It seems like a good turnout. It’s good to get the students more involved. We didn’t have anything like this when we were Salus (University), so it’s nice to get everybody together,” he said.
Arielle Brown, MA, CCC-SLP, adjunct faculty member in the Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) Department at Elkins Park, joined a couple of her students, Shawna Thomas ‘27SLP and Sarah Cole ‘27SLP, for the event. “I love the swag and the food trucks. I think it’s an amazing event and I hope we continue to do it,” said Brown.
Thomas added it’s great to have Drexel-themed events at the Elkins Park campus and not in University City, to illustrate a vibrant student life also exists outside of main campus.
Cole agreed. “Participating in Homecoming on this campus brings the students together and you get to see and meet people from different programs that you don’t normally see,” she said.
The celebration was part of Drexel’s Homecoming weekend, Jan. 22-24, and was one of several other events at main campus, including a window decorating competition, a bonfire and both men's and women's basketball games. Katie Zamulinsky, EdD, Drexel’s associate vice president and dean of Student life, and Maisha Kelly, the University’s director of athletics, both attended the Elkins Park celebration and gave brief remarks to those in attendance.
Monae Kelsey, MS, director of Student Engagement and assistant director of Admissions at the Elkins Park campus, said planning the Homecoming celebration started in November 2025.
“We made the decision to participate in Homecoming this year, our first as a part of the Drexel community,” she said. “I also think this serves as an introduction into Dragon pride. I think it will help people to understand that we are part of the Drexel family now, and even though we’re here in Elkins Park, we still have opportunities to be a part of what’s happening in University City and its traditions we are fully embracing now.”
