By: Paul Samaha ‘17

This past weekend I turned 21. I had a great birthday (aside from the loss to Stanford) with great friends and even some family that flew in town from Virginia to visit me. While part of me is terrified of getting any older and wants to freeze time where it is, I’m mostly just excited to be able to explore new areas of USC and the nearby LA area that I couldn’t explore before! Below are some nearby places I can now legally enter/order from that I couldn’t before.

By: Judy Lee ‘17

My mile time in elementary school was 9 minutes and 8 seconds. Nowadays, getting to a 10-minute mile is hellish. Since then, age and the freshman 15 have not done me any huge favors. So when I signed up for the Santa Monica Classic for $40 (roughly equivalent to almost FOUR Chipotle burrito bowls with guac), I knew the wager was enough to get me going.

By: Paul Samaha ‘17

Los Angeles is known for being a diverse city, and the food options are a great representation of that. While exploring the heart of Downtown LA will offer you infinite possibilities, there are still some great options that are just a walk, bike ride or free USC Uber away from campus. Listed below are restaurants that are necessary for every USC student to experience while at school.

By: Emily Young MA ‘16

One of the main aspects that drew me to University of Southern California was its history of athletic excellence. Since 1912, a USC athlete has won a gold medal in every summer Olympics. USC has produced more Olympians, overall medalists, and gold medalists than any other university in the United States. USC athletics is rich with tradition and it is displayed all around us: the pillars in the Louis Zamperini Plaza of Cromwell Track and Field, Heritage Hall, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and even Tommy Trojan himself was modeled after different USC Football players. There is pride, history, and distinction in putting on a USC jersey. That is why hoisting USC’s 123rd National Championship Ring is so meaningful—it’s tradition.

By: Emily Young MA ‘16

The first step to prepare for any event is to know when it is and RSVP. This Thursday from 10:00am-2:00pm, the USC Career Center is hosting their Fall Career Fair. There will be over 160 different company booths lined up across Trousdale Parkway with recruiters looking to network, collect resumes, and hire USC students. Use my timeline below to prepare and standout at the USC Career Fair!

By: Emily Young MA ‘16

Have you ever heard of Big Data? Big Data explains that with the world’s use of technology constantly growing, the mass amount of data we produce can be organized and analyzed for key insights. Yesterday at Explore @ 4, there was a panel of five data scientists working for various companies, Dun & Bradstreet, Verizon, Netflix, KIPP, and OpenX, who use data to solve business problems.

By: Paul Samaha ‘17

Walking around the USC campus, you probably heard of an organization called Troy Camp as they recruit new counselors on Trousdale this week. But what exactly is Troy Camp? To get to the bottom of this question, I interviewed Junior Andie Furber (pictured below), who is the Troy Camp Director of Counselor Affairs.

By: Judy Lee ‘17

Let’s face it: moving day seems exciting in theory…not so much in practice. Here are 12 moments you probably experienced on move-in day:

By: Lauren Brose ‘15

For everyone who’s gone through one before… breakups suck. It’s as if your best friend dropped from the face of the planet and now, suddenly, you no longer have that go-to person to talk to about everything. I am in no way a relationship expert as I have been fortunate enough to have only experienced a breakup once. Still, I remember the awkward period of time where I had no idea what to do with myself— or, as I now put it, my newfound freedom. There’s a number of things that I recommend doing as well as not. I’m not ashamed to admit that revamping my life after nearly 3 years of being in a relationship was pretty scary at first. But, with a new mentality and my real best friends by my side, I was able to experience my best year ever.

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

If you are still around campus this weekend and feel a little homesick or miss your family, don’t worry- there are lots of opportunities to celebrate Easter with your Trojan Family and maybe make some new memories.

By: Judy Lee ‘17

Last semester, I had a realization: we are in a very rare situation in which we are in the midst of people who will shape the future of this world. Seems dramatic, right? Not so far-fetched, though. Our professors have already had huge parts in shaping entire industries . Is it really a surprise that we’ll join them in the ranks soon enough?

By: Paul Samaha ‘17

Holding a position in the Greek System comes with a certain level of social responsibility; this applies to both fraternity and sorority leaders. I believe now is the time to educate ourselves on what some of these specific responsibilities are– not just responsibilities to our own chapter’s constituents, but to our university’s student body as a whole.