TJA 2012-2013 Membership

It's been a fantastic year and we're can't believe it's about to come to a close. We hope you were able to spend some time with us and have some fun celebrating the spirit of USC and giving back to its community. 

We thank our members and the leadership board for their hard work in making this one a year to remember. 

2012-2013 TJA MEMBERS

Ami Hastings

Amy Vidor

Anna Liberovsky

Ashley Cooper

Ashley Warne

Caitlin Kaletsch

Carina Jacob

Clara Abello

Charlotte-Ann Riffey

Christina Yee-Won

Danielle Noble

Dawn Sirtak

Emily Carsch

Erica Bocook

Erin Walsh

Indira Persad

Jamie Lopez

Janine Coleman

Jaymie Robinson

Jennifer Colgrove

Julia Witt

June Wang

Katie Kramer

Kendra Kozen

Lauren Doucette

Mary Jane Johnstone

Megan Scott

Mei Nickles

Meredith Jung

Michelle Maestas

Michelle Matthews

Nancy Wong

Randyn Calvo

Sofia Anjum

Stephanie Wenger

Trisha Ashford

Wendy Wang

Whitney Fountas

Xixi Hu

2012-2013 TJA BOARD

President Michelle Maestas President-Elect Katie Kramer VP Benefit Trisha Ashford Treasurer Randyn Calvo Scholarship Jaymie Robinson Special Projects Christina Yee-Won Secretary Meredith Jung VP of Programs Nancy Wong Public Relations Emily Carsch Membership Katie Kramer Social Chair Dawn Sirtak Patrons Jamie Lopez Parliamentarian Ashley Cooper

Congratulations to the 2012-2013 Scholarship Recipients

USC TJA 2012-13 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

Congratulations to our amazing scholarship recipients. 

Check out how incredible these women are!

Nancy Benner will be graduating from USC this May as a Chemistry major. She has a GPA of 3.93 and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Mortar Board, Troy Camp and Golden Key International. While at USC, she has received numerous grants from Women in Science and Engineering, the Rose Hills Foundation and the Anton B. Burg Foundation. Her research, which she has been conducting with Dr. Thieo Hogen-Esch, is focused on polymers, including polymers that will spontaneously heal themselves when damaged. Nancy also won first prize at the USC Undergraduate Writers Conference for a paper she wrote on “obesogens,” chemicals that may be contributing to the obesity epidemic. Nancy will be attending Stanford University next fall as a graduate student, pursuing her Ph.D. in chemistry. Her goal is to become an organic chemistry professor at a major university.

Richelle Gribble is a senior at USC pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with dual minors in Social Entrepreneurship and Marketing. She is interested in utilizing art, crowdsourcing initiatives, interactive technology and cause marketing to promote prominent social issues to inspire collaborative action. She currently interns at the USC Society and Business Lab (SBL) where she recruits CEO-level speakers in fields of corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship and the nonprofit sector to speak to students for the SBL Lunch and Learn lecture series. Additionally, she serves as Project Manager for the USC Mobile News Incubator Program which utilizes mobile services to benefit a local nonprofit organization called TRUST South LA. Last summer she worked as a Digital Marketing Intern at (RED), a nonprofit organization which aims to ‘harness the power of companies and people to fight AIDS.’ At USC, Richelle is a Residential Advisor of three years, coordinator of USC’s annual art festival called Arts in the Park, president of the Students of Fine Arts Association and the Chief Communications Officer for the USC Entrepreneurship Club. She is a third-time recipient of the USC Provost Research Fellowship which funds her ongoing independent research project called Networked Life which makes visual comparisons between various network structures (i.e. molecular systems, neural networks, economic structures, social networks, etc.); her art and research explores concepts of virality, group dynamics and social trends that connect us all. Her artwork has been shown in several galleries nation-wide and is the newest addition to the USC Art and Trojan Traditions collection. She was a recent panelist for the USC Brain and Creativity Panel and was a speaker for this year’s TEDxTrousdale event.

Jessica Kuo is a junior Neuroscience major with a minor in East Asian Cultures and Languages. She will be applying to medical school in the fall. Her hobbies include reading, kayaking and tennis. Jessica is currently Editor-in-Chief of USC’s Pre-Health newspaper, whose mission includes disseminating information and opportunities to future healthcare professionals. Jessica is also active involved with the USC Alumni Association as a member of Society 53 where she enjoys collaborating with alumni to spread the spirit of the Trojan Family to current undergraduates. Off campus, Jessica conducts research at the National Institute of Transplantation and volunteers in hospitals and local clinics. When she has time, Jessica takes on the challenge of teaching her roommates tennis.

Ruth Madievsky is a senior majoring in Biology and minoring in Thematic Approaches to Humanities and Society. Her greatest passions are helping others, particularly in the realm of public health, and creative writing. She is a writing tutor, a research assistant at an HIV clinic in downtown Los Angeles, and a published poet and fiction writer. She is graduating in May and will attend the USC School of Pharmacy in the fall. She plans on pursuing careers as both an ambulatory care pharmacist and a writer. You can find her published poem online in Literary Orphans and can expect to see more of her fiction and poetry in literary magazines such as Revolution House, The Vein and Camroc Press Review within the next six months.

 

Taryn Nagata is a senior majoring in Communication with a minor in Communication Design, a blending of fine arts and business. She is a double legacy at USC, so has been a Trojan all of her life. She is passionate about children’s media and using it as an educational tool, and has completed internships with Disney Channel and Disney Junior for three semesters. Taryn is writing a senior thesis on kids’ television, focusing on narrative and industrial trends. When she is not in class or interning, Taryn volunteers with USC’s ArtSmart where she teaches an art history curriculum in nearby elementary schools. She also enjoys spending time with her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, and is working on her own Etsy business. 

Special thanks and recognition to TJA supporters of California Dreamin' 2013

THANKS & RECOGNITION

We would like to extend a special thank you to those who made California Dreamin' possible through their generous donations:

9021Pho	Meredith Jung & Bill Jendrzejek
Activision	Michael & Ashley Cooper
Amy Vidor & CT Vangsness III	Mirja A. Weaver
Artisan Cheese Gallery	Natural History Museum
Ashford Family	Nuovo Hair Studio
Beam Inc.	Paramount Pictures
Beauty & Beyond	Paul Martin’s American Grill
Bill & Judi Shupper	Pei Wei
Caitlin Rohan	Printefex
Charles & Christina Won	Randy & Jamie Lopez
CSI:NY	Regne
David & Jan Cooper	Red Bull
Dry Bar	Rene Gomez
Facial Bungalow	Rona Lewis
Fogo de Chao	S Factor
Frenchy’s Beauty Parlor	Sally Boyne
G&J Manufacturing, Inc.	Sarah Lefkowitz
Gladstone’s Malibu	Sing Out Loud Karaoke
Gourmandise School	Six Flags Magic Mountain
Grammy Museum	Studio Charis
Hastings Family	Suzan K. Vigil, D.D.S.
Hipcooks	The Wine Bar
Huntington Library	USC School of Dramatic Arts
Ingallina’s	USC Ticket Office
Joan Anjum	USC TJA 2012-2013
Joey Ikemoto Photography	USC Trojan Marching Band
Julia Witt & Andre Chaney	Veev Acai Spirit
Kellee Lindauer	Veggie Grill
Los Angeles Ale Works	Walter Simonsen & Michelle Maestas
LVR Fashion	Wandy & Larry Chung
Maggie & Rosalind Yui	Yee Family

TJA's Winter 2013

It's been a busy spring semester! TJA has been up to a lot of fun having involvement in many activities and getting prepared for 2013 Benefit!

Trojan Junior Auxiliary hosted its very first Trojan Scupper. It was a great success at the USC Widney Alumni House! 15 amazing and energetic undergraduates joined us for a Mexican Feast from La Taquiza.

 Kendra, Katie, Michelle and Nancy participating in Trojan SCuppers

On the scholarship front, we held our application read-through at Galen Center and then went to a USC Men's Basketball game versus the Washington Huskies. We then held On-Campus Interviews and attended the ACC Scholarship Celebration Luncheon. We met so many amazing junior and senior women!  Thank you to all members that participated with the scholarship process.

TJA Benefit 2013 is here!

We cordially invite you to join us on Saturday, May 4 for USC Trojan Junior Auxiliary's night of

 

California Dreamin'

This year's event features a delicious selection of savory small plates and desserts, casino games, silent auction, opportunity drawings and more! Guests will enjoy a beautiful sunset in an ocean-front banquet space while supporting scholarships for USC students. 

Galdstone's Malibu features panoramic ocean views and direct beach access from our private event space. 

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit http://alumni.usc.edu/tjabenefit  

2013 Graduating Scholarship Recipients

Our senior scholarship recipients are being recognized at the 29th Annual ACC Scholarship Luncheon on March 1, 2013. Congratulations to this year's graduates and TJA scholarship recipients:

Nancy Benner
Richelle Gribble
Jessia Kuo
Ruth Madievsky
Taryn Nagata

We wish you all the best in your post-graduate endeavors!

Congratulations, again!

Soup du Jour

On Sunday, January 13, instead of staying in and bundling up in the midst of one of the coldest weekends LA has seen in the past fifteen years, our girls were on the go with Dawn at the helm.

Twelve of our members participated in a Hipcooks cooking course focused on basic knife/chopping skills and more importantly, how to make soups from scratch!

Soups made include Carrot & Ginger, Moroccan Lentil, Butternut Squash and Corn Chowder! My mouth is watering just writing this post!

 Randyn, Danielle, Jaymie and Katie ready to sample!

 Is that Potato Leek in that bowl? Another bowl for me, please!

I've never seen such a great group of smart, talented Trojans learning how to cook together!

 Get your chop on, Janine! Ashley will make sure you're doing it right.

 What's that you say? These are all vegan soups, too?! Great!

 

 

 I bet you've never had Carrot & Ginger soup this good! 

Janine, Michelle, Ashley and Dawn