Thursday was a special day for the popular UCF student content creator Orion Tha Scholar, as students gathered to celebrate his 22nd birthday outside John C. Hitt Library. Before Orion came outside, many of his friends, followers, and fans cheered, screamed, and clapped for his arrival.
Orion Russell, better known online as Orion Tha Scholar, continues to make his mark here at UCF — both on campus and on social media. With a growing following on Instagram with 6K followers and on TikTok with 10.6K followers, Russell has become a familiar face to the student body, recognized for his energy, creativity and engagement with the campus community.
Nicholas Paton, junior business marketing major who goes by Nick Patone online, designed a flyer inviting UCF students to gather in front of the library to sing “Happy Birthday” to Orion.
“I really appreciate Nick for putting this together,” Russell said.
Russell and Paton have been friends for quite some time.
“My first impression of Orion was actually the famous ‘This UCF semester is going to be a movie’ video that he made. After that, I just kept seeing his face, his TikToks and his reels, and eventually I was like, ‘I need to meet this kid.'” Paton said.
They first met outside of the campus library back in late August when Paton interviewed with Russell. Since then, they’ve been seen together at football pregames and have collaborated on several content projects.
Paton shared some heartfelt words about Russell.
“I knew I had to do something nice for him. Orion’s just been a very impactful person to the UCF community,” Paton said. “There’s a division between students here, but Orion has been the anchor in bringing people together. He spreads a lot of positivity across campus, so I thought it would be nice to try to gather our student body to create a special moment for him.”
It wasn’t just the student body from UCF that showed up — friends of Russell from off-campus even received invites.
“I’ve reached out to so many fellow students and even people that don’t even go here. I couldn’t wait for this,” Russell said.
Earlier this year, in April, Russell said he “was a nobody.”
“Everybody was looking past me,” Russell said. However, things took a fast turn when one video in June changed everything for him.
Judging by the crowd that gathered for his birthday — over 100 students — he’s definitely not a “nobody” anymore.
Lillian Brown, senior marketing major, showed up extra early to the event.
“He’s become a big part of our campus community, and I really respect the kind of unity that he’s creating here at UCF. It was worth coming out today to support him,” Brown said.
Isabella Verdecchia, senior integrated business major, follows up with Russell and his success on social media.
“He’s definitely created a sense of community, everything that he stands for, even on his social media—it’s really positive, and of course I came out to wish him a Happy Birthday,” Verdecchia said.
“He’s a huge influence on campus,” said Om Patel, a senior pre-med major. “He has very positive vibes and is a great impact.”
Positivity seems to surround Russel. Looking ahead, Russell, a junior psychology major, shared his aspirations for the rest of the semester.
“After my birthday, we’ll have just a month left of the semester,” Russel said. “So my goal is to finish strong and carry momentum into the spring.”