Trojan Candy arrived at the Trojan Guild of Los Angeles (TGLA) Homecoming Booth at 2:00 p.m. The booth was all set up with our merchandise to sale. We use our profits for our scholarships.
Now it was time to take, you know what, pictures! The first one was of our President, Jean Getchell and one of our scholarship recipients, Lorna Brandt.
The next pictures were all of TGLA volunteers and their family and friends.
Then, near Tommy Trojan I took three pictures of the Women of Troy Basketball Team.
After my sister Pat and I finished our shift at the TGLA Booth, we met our husbands and friends at the Rossier School of Education Tailgate.
After eating dinner at the Rossier Tailgate, Trojan Candy returned to the TGLA Booth to interview a TGLA Scholar Christine Nguyen. Christine, who is from Arcadia, is majoring in Business. She wants to learn more about the film business when she completes her internship at Paramount Pictures. Eventually, Christine wants to help corporations "give back." More personally, Christine loves to bake, especially chocolate chip cookies, to volunteer, and to spend time with her family. Christine has an older brother who went to Stanford. She has three favorite movies... "Up," "Star Wars" and "Father of the Bride." As for television, Christine likes "Full House," "Fresh Prince of Bel Air," "Scrubs," and "Buffy the Vampire." She likes musical artists "Fall Out Boy" and "One Direction." Additionally, Christine, her mom, and her brother play the piano. What a talented TGLA Scholar! FIGHT ON, Christine!
After Christine's interview I took pictures of three volunteers in the TGLA Booth: Christin Nguyen, Leslie Lilly, and Alnita Dunn.
After saying good-by to my TGLA friends, it was time to rush to the Coliseum for the USC-Arizona game.
Trojan Candy arrived at the Davidson Center for the first meeting of the year for TGLA. The room was bustling with activity. I saw three of our five 2017 Scholars.
I immediately walked over to one of the scholars. Her face looked so familiar. She was Lorna Brandt! Trojan Candy met her when she was a Freshman on the Women of Troy Sand Volleyball Team. Lorna is majoring in Business Administration and, after her graduation in May 2018, she already has a job waiting at Capital Group in Investment Operations. What a bright future! Lorna was on the Women of Troy Beach Volleyball Team for two and a half years and now competes on the Triathlon Team. She started playing indoor volleyball in high school. For hobbies, Lorna likes to go to the beach, go to USC football games, hang out with her family, and cook and bake for her family. She likes Country Music and her favorite artists are Thomas Rhett and Old Dominion. "Gilmore Girls" and "Friday Night Lights" are her favorite television shows. Lorna likes to read historical fiction, and her favorite book is "All the Light We Cannot See." She volunteers at the Junior Blind. Another "giving" Trojan. FIGHT ON, Lorna!
The second TGLA Scholar I interviewed was Caitlin Tran. She was an inaugural member of the Iovine Young Academy and is majoring in Art, Technology Business Administration. Caitlin is from Fullerton and played water polo and swam competitively in the Cerritos indoor pool when she was younger. Now, she swims in the Lyon Center for recreation. Caitlin is a very active undergrad. She is an Editor of the Daily Trojan, volunteers on the National Youth Board, and serves in Undergraduate Student Government. Caitlin is also very innovative. She has formed a $2,000,000 Start-Up Company that produces an Augmented Reality Headset. Impressive! On a personal note, Caitlin's favorite food is sushi. She likes Romantic Comedy movies. Her favorite movie is "Love Actually" starring Emma Thompson. Caitlin also loves Broadway musicals. She has seen "Hamilton" and is trying daily to win tickets to see it again. Good Luck and FIGHT ON, Caitlin!
My third TGLA Scholar was Jorge Castello. Jorge, who is from Eagle Rock, is majoring in Finance and minoring in East Asian Language Cultures. Yes, he is becoming fluent in Mandarin. Jorge is active in the Trojan Investment Society. He is passionate about his hobbies. Jorge enjoys art appreciation and likes to create his own art. He likes to photoshop a picture and overlay other images over it. Jorge also loves all types of music and likes to interact with music. His favorite genres of music are hip hop, electronic dance, and classical music. He also attends L.A. Philharmonic concerts at the Walt Disney Hall. More personally, Jorge's favorite food, like Caitlin's, is sushi. His two favorite books are "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Scarlet Pimpernel." Lastly, Jorge told Trojan Candy that he is a third generation Trojan! His grandfather earned an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and his dad received his law degree at USC. Then, unbelievably, after I gave Jorge my www.trojancandy.com business card, he told me that his cousin is football alumnus Mark Sanchez! I told Jorge that I have several pictures of Mark in my blog. Another remarkable USC Family! FIGHT ON, Jorge!
Trojan Candy was able to take this group picture of the three TGLA Scholars with our two Vice-Presidents Scholarship, Lois Booth and Sandy Johnston.
I do plan to interview and take pictures of our other two TGLA scholarship recipients, Christine Nguyen and Elyssia Wadjaja, at the Alumnae Coordinating Council Scholarship luncheon at Town and Gown on November 17th.
Now, it was time for the TGLA meeting to start. Trojan Candy will write about our renowned speaker and his presentation first. Vice President Programs Carol Fox introduced Dr. Erroll Southers and his Program Manager Juan Noguera.
As Carol Fox wrote in our TGLA Newsletter, "Dr. Southers is Professor of the Practice of Governance, Director of the Safe Communities Institute, and Director of Homegrown Violent Extremism Studies at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy." Dr. Southers is a "former FBI Special Agent who served in counterterrorism and public safety positions at every level of government."
Trojan Candy presents a synopsis of his presentation. At the beginning of his presentation, Dr. Southers told the audience that the Las Vegas sniper is not a terrorist because he is not affiliated with any extremist or terrorist organization. He is a murderer.
Here are pictures of the slides that Dr. Southers detailed to us.
Before the presentation, TGLA President Jean Getchell introduced all of the guests who were in attendance. Trojan Candy didn't have time before the meeting or during their introductions to take pictures of our members with their guest(s), so I took the pictures sporadically during lunch.
Meet our TGLA members and their guests:
Thanks to all of our members who brought guests. It was so nice for Trojan Candy to meet every one of them. Please come back to future meetings!
Finally, Trojan Candy took a few pictures of TGLA members.
What a tremendous first 2017 TGLA meeting!