In the next two weeks I will complete my junior year and will officially be a senior in college. (WHAT?!). While the feeling of entering my senior year is daunting, it has also forced me to reflect upon my USC career thus far. More importantly, it has forced me to consider what graduating a year from now as a USC Trojan would really mean. It is almost an understatement to say that I take great pride in being a USC student because of how much this school means to me. There are

Helenes is the reason I did not transfer out of USC—and for that, I am grateful. My first few years at USC was rough—moving from east to west coast, not knowing anyone, and coming from a high school of 74 kids, I felt completely lost. I felt alone, I felt confused, and I was also having some health issues, so it felt like everything was crashing and burning around me, and there I was, in the center of it all, alone. I went on a Global Brigades trip the spring of my sophomore

A Thank You Letter to The Most Supportive Group of People I Have Ever Met Dear Helenes, The night before my MCAT, I was in a Las Vegas hotel room with a fever of 102 degrees. In addition to the normal anxiety everyone has about a 7.5 hour medical school entrance exam, I had to worry about the possibility that a temporary cold might negate six months of sitting in the Doheny bookstacks, waking up for early morning study sessions, and missing out on football game days. Miserabl

Crusher: Mehr Sikri. On Piper: “Piper is just AMAZING. She’s an incredible person and she’s always looking amazing and killing it at everything. Literally everything!” Cayla Yasukochi: Hey! So first of all, could you please tell us all the typical stuff, like your major, your year, your rosebud class… Piper Nylen: Yeah! My hometown is Boulder, Colorado, and I am a senior at Marshall, so I’m getting a Business Administration degree, and I have this performance science minor in

It’s hard to quantify experiences, to take the nuances and complexities of an experience, and boil them down to one word. Describing the Helenes is easy, but also difficult— I could say that to me, Helenes is a wonderful organization, a life-changing organization, and a supportive organization. But then Helenes would become one of many things that fall under that sort of general category of supportive, wonderful, life-changing things. This isn’t to say that category isn’t imp

From the collection of the Disney Channel Original Movies, Cheetah Girls has to be one of my favorites. The movie was not only fantastic in 2006, but the soundtrack was even better. It’s about a four teenage girls from New York and their journey to become singing superstars. It’s been a while since I’ve watched the movie, but I’ll never forget the song, “Amigas Cheetahs, Friends For Life” from Cheetah Girls 2. “Someone who lets you be yourself There when you need help They’ve

Wow!! Where do I start…Helenes has changed so many things about my life, but one thing specifically that it has changed was how I view myself. Upon coming to USC I have always had a strategic plan of what my life was going to be. Graduate from high school in the top 10 percentile then get admission into USC , and then you will go to USC & love, then get a great career from there and it will be set. However, when I arrived at USC it was really hard for me. In all aspects it wa

Crusher: Valerie Johnson. On Mehr: “Mehr is who I want to be! She is so sweet, caring, funny, smart, and beautiful inside and out. She has great style too. I love getting to talk to her about anything. I’m lucky to live in the room next to her! :)” Cayla Yasukochi: Hi! So please introduce yourself and tell us, you know, your basic stuff--your name, major, year, hometown, etc. Mehr Sikri: Okay! I’m Mehr, I’m a senior, rosebud semester Fall ‘15, I’m from--well, I don’t really k

Dear Rosebuds, When I was in your shoes three years ago, our rosebud class had the opportunity to sit down with the senior Helenes. I, an excited and impressionable freshman, was mesmerized by how accomplished and inspiring each girl was. They imparted some wisdom on me that I took to heart and will now write to you. Fair warning that most of the following advice is unoriginal and taken from incredible Helenes before me like Carolyn Windler, Lizzie Jones, Rashelle Nagata,

“We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back. We call upon our sisters around the world to be brave – to embrace the strength within themselves and realize their full potential.” – Malala Yousafzai USC is full of go-getters, of people who take life by the reins and do whatever it takes to achieve their dreams. In Helenes, there are definitely the go-getters, but our members do more than strive for their goals. This community of women unapologetically supports each oth