Ryan Vescio: Voice of the Community
UCF Alumnus Ryan Vescio, ’02, has had an exciting fast paced career as an assistant state attorney for the State Attorney’s Office of the 9th Judicial Circuit. He has closed over 2,500 cases and works hard to serve and protect the community in more ways than just in the court room.
Vescio graduated from UCF in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in legal studies. He was very active on campus and involved in many student organizations. Vescio was president of his fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon, attorney general for the Student Government Association (SGA) and first chair in the Student Life Community. He also chaired the committee that helped build the UCF Recreation and Wellness Center.
His involvement in these student organizations brought about one of his best UCF memories. Vescio was a part of one of UCF’s biggest traditions, the roped off Pegasus in the Student Union.
“I was attorney general of SGA when we started talking about ways to bring pride to UCF. The school was lacking traditions and one of our ideas was to rope off the Pegasus in the Student Union. We wanted it to be a sacred place, a place where even if the ropes were removed, people would avoid stepping there. It was great to leave a mark and be a part of a tradition that has become a much bigger thing.”
Vescio credits his UCF education for preparing him for law school and his career.
“It helped me learn about constitutional theory and how to interpret laws and the meaning behind them.”
Since graduating from UCF and law school at Nova Southeastern University, Vescio has gained a multitude of experience working with the Office of the State Attorney. In his current position as the assistant state attorney of the 9th Judicial Circuit, Vescio prosecutes homicide and violent career criminal cases. He has the state of Florida in all death penalty post-conviction matters concerning inmates on death row.
The UCF Creed is Integrity, Scholarship, Community, Creativity, and Excellence. When he was asked how the creed has inspired his career he said, “Community is a really big part of my job because we are here to serve and protect the community. As prosecutors we take the work of all these community members and become the story tellers. It’s our job to piece together everything and be the voice of the victims.”
Integrity is also an important part of his job. Vescio said, “We have to have integrity and it has to be absolute. When we compromise our integrity social justice is impaired.”
Vescio offered some advice for current students and alumni. He encourages students to use their opportunity in college to get involved in as many things as possible because college is the perfect time to experiment.
As for alumni, he advises to recognize what the university has done for you and pay it back in some way if you can. Part of how Vescio gives back is by guest lecturing in different political science and legal studies classes. He also volunteers on the UCF trial team and mentors student athletes.
He said, “Volunteer or have student interns, even just being proud to talk about UCF is a way to give back and support the university.”