On Wednesday, Mar. 12, ninth grade Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) students toured the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. Students shared what they felt was most impactful from the trip. 

“I felt like it was really important to go tour a university. I had never really done that before,” Luis Barajas (‘28) said. “AVID provided the opportunity to do something that will help me in the future when I am applying to colleges. It was also just extremely fun to learn all the tidbits about USC’s history. I felt motivated to reach for the stars, too, because of how smart the students at USC seemed. I learned that a lot of USC students complete more than one major or minor.” 

“One of the opportunities that our tour guide mentioned really stood out to me. He said that if you study biological or environmental science you can go to Catalina Island to research the animals and nature there and what problems that ecosystem is having,” Jude Juarez (‘28) said. “I was also excited to hear about the countless study abroad opportunities there are at USC. You can go to places as diverse as Italy or Hong Kong and take courses at well-known universities over there, too.” 

“I was really interested in everything I learned about film at USC,” Isis Duarte (‘28) said. “For example, I learned that a bunch of TV shows and movies were filmed there like the movie ‘Forrest Gump’ and the TV show ‘How to Get Away with Murder.’ I also learned that the director of ‘Wicked’ went to USC’s film school, so the university had an early screening of the movie that students could attend.” 

Students also shared what other places and programs they wanted to hear more about. 

“I wanted to hear more about their computer engineering and medical programs,” Barajas (‘28) said. “I have not fully decided yet, but I am considering pursuing cybersecurity or medicine in the future. They are very competitive fields, and there is a lot of different things you can do in each field, so I would be very curious to see all the different types of programs they offer.” 

“I am interested in science, but there are so many different fields within that,” Juarez (‘28) said. “I would be interested in learning about the differences between all the science programs and what careers could be connected to each. For example, what careers or opportunities are there for environmental science versus biology.” 

“I was just really blown away by their film program and the history behind it,” Duarte (‘28) said. “I wanted to see inside their film school, the stages they have, the Frank Sinatra Hall. It was so cool that they had so many opportunities for film there. I hope I can go back in the future or that we can go back as a school to look at more programs.”