Friday, March 24, 2023---USC TGLA at USC Alumnae Coordinating Council Scholarship Luncheon

President Sandy Johnston wrote this blog.

Since you (Candy Yee) always take photos and write a lively blog and interview our scholars, we wanted to keep up your perfect record. I had asked if you were going to the USC Alumnae Coordinating Council (ACC) luncheon, and when you thought there may be a schedule conflict I told myself as president I would ensure photos and a brief article for your blog.

The 39th Annual Scholarship Luncheon of the USC Alumnae Coordinating Council changed venues from the Town and Gown Ballroom to the cozy Caruso Center Ballroom on Friday, March 24, 2023.

USC Trojan Guild’s policy is to send the two Scholarship Vice Presidents, this year Drs. Andrea Maxie and Janyce Teasley, to join the President in cheering on our graduating seniors whom we selected the previous year.

The ACC leaders met in the second floor library to conduct business and then adjourned to enjoy the scholars’ parents and check the merchandise that was being sold by our Ways and Means team: Jean Getchell, Terri Boyle, and Cheryl Schwartz. Other TGLA members present included Mary Hall, Ann Palmer, and co-chair of this event, Christine Ofiesh. The USC Trojan Marching band gave a rousing medley of Trojan band iconic songs inside the front of the Caruso ballroom where the 150 attendees (sold out crowd) felt they were inside the fanfare. Co-Chairs Cheri Wechler and Christine welcomed the ACC leaders, scholars and their parents. ACC Chair Carol Sever introduced the USC dignitaries and The President of the Board of Governors Nadine Watt who energetically informed the soon to be graduating seniors what to expect as USC alumnae and upcoming events.

We were excused to pick up our delicious lunch from the buffet set up in the outside courtyard and returned to our respective tables to visit with table mates. We were lucky to be seated with Town and Gown scholar Blake Zingerman (Marshall School of Business working on two startups with emphasis on music similar to fantasy football) and his family. His mother works with rockets. The family friend seated with us was involved throughout our speaker’s life at Caltech and with NASA projects.

We enjoyed speaking with the guest speaker, Dr. Garrett Erin Reisman, astronaut and Professor in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering at our table before he spoke to the entire room. His speach was funny, honest, heartfelt and motivational. Even though he was ridiculed by his peers early on for his shortness, he exceeded their careers in achievement by completing no less than three outstanding launches and actually made it to the moon. He described the preparations and the early suits which he now creates and improved. If something does not appear ready for you yet, create your future. Persevere!

People left after good food, mixing with scholars and parents with an edible USC pennant cookie! A change in venue and time of year, usually this event is in the fall, turned out beautifully. I have enjoyed my year of serving as ACC Hospitality Chair, and on the ByLaws and ACC Historical Committees. It was wonderful to see our TGLA scholars again who are shown in the photos here. Good job, Christine and team!! Andrea, you and your team selected wonderful students for us. We hope we can have one or more of our scholars on May 11th at our next general meeting. Fight on!

Sandy

These photos were taken on Terri Boyle’s smartphone.

TGLA members posed with TGLA scholars Kyana Huang (8/16/2022), Sara Jo (8/15/2022), and Joe Suh (8/14/2022). Left to right standing were Andrea Maxie, Terri Boyle, Jean Getchell, Sandy Johnston, Kyana Huang (Health Promotion and Disease Prevention), Sara Jo (Business Administration), and Janyce Teasley, and Joe Suh (Business Administration with an emphasis on Business Analytics). Seated were Cheryl Schmidt and Sara Jo's parents.

TGLA scholars Jared Ellis (8/15/2022), Sara Jo, and Kyana Huang joined TGLA members in this photo. Left to right standing were Terri Boyle, Jean Getchell, Janyce Teasley, Christine Ofiesh, Andrea Maxie, Sandy Johnston, Jared Ellis (Business Adminstration), and Sara Jo. Seated were Kyana Huang, Cheryl Schmidt, and Sara Jo's parents.

Jared Ellis posed with TGLA members Terri Boyle, Jean Getchell, Janyce Teasley, Andrea Maxie, and Cheryl Schmidt.

Thursday, February 9, 2023---USC TGLA Meeting at Steven’s Steak House

Trojan Candy finally found the parking lot of the Steven’s Steak House. Once I entered the dining room where our USC TGLA meeting was to be held, I saw a lot of friends talking and hustling.

As soon as I could get my camera out, I started taking pictures.

Five friends posed first for me. They were Jane Bensussen, Mary Hall, Edie Etmekjian, Sandy Johnston and Sharon Wood.

At the check-in-table, standing was LuLu Wong and sitting were Rosalee Pechersky and Ann Proctor.

Trojan Candy started walking around from table to table. Sitting together were Evelyn Wilson, Nikki Dana, and Sharon Schmidt.

Close by were Jean Getchell, Dorothy Conte, Juel Collins, and Janyce Teasley.

Trojan Candy kept walking around the dining room.

I saw Suzanne Stillman, Laury DeSanctis and her daughter Remi DeSanctis sitting together.

At my front table, I took a picture of two of Sandy’s guests. They were Richard Steiner and Rose Sapia.

Near the front door were new guests Patti Jamgotchian and Carol Sever. They were with Edie Etmekjian, Sandy Johnston and Oksana Giebeler.

Now it was time for our meeting to start. Sandy Johnston called the meeting to order.

For Reflections, Nikki Dana spoke first.

Nominating Committee Chair Jean Getchell was up next to present our USC TGLA 2023-2024 Board slate.

Mark Todd is the Vice Provost for Academic Operations. He serves on the USC University Hospital and Norris Cancer Hospital Governing Boards and the USC Care Board. He advises the Provost on clinical operation and budgeting related to Keck Medicine of USC. Mark also provides leadership integral to creating new programs for veterans and their families, and he works closely with other USC leaders to develop and coordinate USC’s strategic approach to supporting our military and veterans. This is the topic he spoke about today. I took two videos of Mark’s presentation.

Then, Mark introduced the second speaker. She is Seulki Noh. Seulki is a Programming Assistant at USC's Veterans Resource Center and part of Military and Veteran Initiatives at the Provost for Academic Affairs. Seulki currently serves as President of the Veterans Association at USC. Here is some of the video that I took of Seulki’s presentation.

Terri Boyle had speaker Seulki Noh draw the winning ticket.

Mary Hall was the lucky winner!

What an event filled USC TGLA meeting!

Wednesday, January 25, 2023---USC TGLA Members at the Associates Scholars Event

USC TGLA members attended the USC Associates Scholars Reception at the University Club. Trojan Candy could not attend because of a conflicting meeting. My husband Jim did attend and took pictures for me. The event began with a Meet and Greet session with hors d'oevres. He photographed several of the Scholars and TGLA members at this time.

Quinn Booth was one of the Student Scholars selected for the panel discussion.

Ehren Partida was another student panelist.

Associates Scholars David Papazyan and ? Murphy attended the event.

Associates Robin and Frank Stirling smiled for Jim.

Patrick Auerbach moderated the discussion. Some of the questions that he asked the Scholars were "Tell us what you want to be", "Why did you choose USC?", "How was the adjustment from high school to college?", "What is a typical day for you?", "Who was your role model?", and "Tell us about your family."

A few questions were received from the audience.

Jim said that he enjoyed the discussion. What an exciting night to meet the new 2023 USC Associates Scholars!