Joshua Ramirez ’15 May 7, 2015 –   hen Joshua Ramirez was in middle school, teachers didn’t understand his learning disabilities. An avid reader, he had trouble with other skills, such as counting money. Teachers made him sit by himself in the classroom and considered him a lost cause. So how did this stigmatized boy turn into the accomplished artist …

Oralia “Lulu” Catalan ’15 April 22, 2015 –   Home for Oralia Catalan used to be a makeshift house under a bridge in the North Bay. She bathed in the nearby river and did homework by candlelight. Often, she and her siblings would take home extra milk and fruits from their school lunches to eat for dinner. This was her …

Adrian Trinidad ’15, MJ Plascencia ’16, Felicitas Reyes ’17, Eunice Velarde ’10, Jasmine Torres ’14, Debbie Rumbo ’13. Adrian Trinidad was in third grade at an inner city Los Angeles elementary school when a chance encounter during a school trip to USC changed the course of his life. A student gave the young boy a bookmark for the Norman Topping …

Marco Valadez ’14 October 24, 2014 –   Every year about 3 million students graduate from high school in the United States — and only about 50,000 will have the qualifications to begin their academic careers at one of the country’s top 30 private research universities. These are schools that not only teach, but also inspire scientific innovation, social progress …

Oscar de los Santos ’15 April 23, 2014 –   Oscar De Los Santos recalled lunching with President Barack Obama at a café near the White House. Both ordered hamburgers and french fries, Santos going with a strawberry milkshake while the president enjoyed a chocolate shake. Santos, a junior political science major, an incoming freshman…

Jasmine Torres ’14, Marco Valadez ’14, and Shamoya Washington ’14 April 9, 2014 –   USC President C. L. Max Nikias, USC Trustees, senior administrators and three USC students who are Cal Grant recipients made a recent visit to Sacramento to speak with California lawmakers. The USC delegates discussed the importance of the Cal Grant…

Erik (Estrada) Bezauri ’17, John Mendoza ’16, Kaijona “KJ” Wade ’17 October 31, 2013 –   Students in USC’s Norman Topping Student Aid Fund teamed up with the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks Thursday afternoon to educated children about Halloween safety. Held at the Hoover Recreation Center,…

Tristan Baizar ’17 September 3, 2013 – Flush with excitement, Tristan Baizar showed up on his USC move-in day even before the official 8 a.m. check-in time. His mom and girlfriend helped him unpack. It was a quick process — from past camps and programs, the 18-year-old South Los Angeles resident knew how to move into USC’s dorms. Except this …

Jesse Ruiz ’12 Spring 2013 –   At an early age, Jonathan Ruiz ’02 became his family’s education pioneer — although he could hardly have known it at the time.Ruiz’s parents moved to Los Angeles from rural Mexico, and though they never had the chance to go to school, they knew the importance of education for their own children. “They …

Recipients of the Norman Topping scholarship in 2012 August 31, 2012 – To make sure they started the school year prepared, recipients of the Norman Topping scholarship gathered for the annual new scholar breakfast and all-scholar retreat. “Everyone in the Topping group is there to help one another,” said Natalie Parra, a freshman majoring in communication. “They’re a family that …