USC has shown me that it's not the place that makes the people, but rather the people that make this place.

USC has always been slightly pretentious in its facade and at the same time, some of the school's best work happens in the rundown corridors and classrooms of the neglected buildings. Buildings that the university claim are important, yet fail to back financially. The administration is quick to take credit where credit is not due, while failing to own up to their mistakes and hold themselves accountable.

USC is not a school that I would describe as having the best nor the brightest our country has to offer. Though spectacular people come through this school and move on into the world. Universities and our country have leaders that come and go. Some do great things, some do more harm than good, and some leave having never accomplished much of anything, good or bad. Some teachers are here to teach, and some are not. Some students are here to learn, and some are not, but the lifeforce of this university lies in the small percentage of those who do.

What made this school something worth four years of my time and hard work is the honesty and integrity that I have cultivated as a person. Sometimes in spite of a lack of honesty and integrity from those around me and other times because I believed this school deserved those qualities and I believed that I could provide them. This school means something to me because of the teachers that placed unending faith in me and because of the faith and trust I placed in their hands. It's the fact that I didn't see that openness squandered, but rather valued and cultivated. In many ways, peers were both my best friends and worst enemies. I've loved them and equally hated them at different times, but those moments of brilliance and teamwork are not held above the moments of frustration, bickering, and arguing.

To me, these events are not above the development of well-rounded people and these things are not above USC. They are to be learned from and lived through. There have been times I felt this campus had become my home and other times, I felt so alone that I didn't know where I belonged. I have been challenged as a person and a thinker and yet when I walk by Tommy Trojan at my worst, I remember the thing this icon represents. Overcoming obstacle in the face of oppression, or disappointment, or loss. Those very challenges can come from the school itself, it can come from external circumstances, challenges our country faces, and even the things we battle with internally.

This school so often celebrates its victories and yet the failures we overcome are what make trojans. The I fell off my skateboard and skinned my knee but don't care cause fuck you pain, kind of individuals. Those are trojans and that is what Tommy has represented for me. This isn't me singing the praises of the school, this is me singing the praises of those who bring uniqueness to a place that without driven people with something to stand for, wouldn't be anything more than a collection of buildings. It's the hard work that makes someone the best and brightest, not the initial talent or privilege we have been given beforehand. I've met these very same people in passing or through prolonged friendships. They are the people that have made USC something to be proud of. The knowledge that the few among the masses can change the world. That the truly ambitious and moral will go forth to represent this school and we'll be proud to be associated with them. The doers who represent an ideology that despite administration: achieve, thrive, and inspire.

This is a commendation to those who choose to stand on their own two feet when in solitary or backed by others. A praising of maintaining a dedication to themselves and the world. A validation for the desire to leave USC better than we found it. To leave the world better than we entered it. These people don't have to be the best in their class, they don't need to be well liked, and they aren't here purely for themselves. It's the bringing of self to the table that generates change in others. Setting an example though their efforts for those who also dream big. These people passing through USC make the school what it is. It's what they do and what they leave behind that the next generation can then aspire to become.