USC President Carol Folt named Asna Tabassum as valedictorian and both James McColl III and Lisa Tchitchkan salutatorians in the Town and Gown ballroom on April 2. The event recognizes the achievements of students and faculty at the university.
The valedictorian and salutatorian honors are determined by a combination of grade point average, involvement in the university and an interview process. This year 236 students were eligible to receive the honors at USC.
For a student to be eligible, they must have a grade point average of at least 3.980 or higher and complete the number of course units needed at USC. A student has to have complete knowledge of an academic program and contribute to university and community life. Also, they must submit an essay reflecting on their USC journey and be willing to accept the award. The student named valedictorian must have the ability to deliver a short commencement speech at graduation. Student candidates can apply and receive interviews, then will be selected from the Valedictorian and Salutatorian Selection Committee.
USC 2024 valedictorian, Asna Tabassum is a fourth-year student from Chino Hills, California. She will be graduating with a major in biomedical engineering and a minor in resistance to genocide which includes her studies on how technology, immigration and literacy play a role in the type of medical care people will receive.
After receiving the phone call from USC Provost Andrew T. Guzman, Tabassum felt thankful for being awarded valedictorian. “I think I had come to peace with the fact that whether I got it or whether I didn’t get it, I was really proud of how I had grown. So just ultimately, I was grateful.”
During her four years at USC, Tabassum did a lot of work for the community, first joining LACI (L.A. Community Impact) which works with nonprofit organizations around Los Angeles. Then she co-founded the club Blueprints for Pangaea with other fellow USC students. Its goal is to reallocate medical supplies from the Keck School of Medicine to areas in need around the world.
“Over the course of the next three years, I was in the club as president, I was able to send medical supplies to Ukraine, right after the war broke out, Turkey and Syria right after the earthquake, various different places around the world, which is really cool. Definitely the experience that I got the most out of and the I grew the most,” said Tabassum on the work she had achieved in the club.
She is also a student ambassador for Viterbi School of Engineering and part of the USC mobile clinic, which goes to homeless shelters in Skid Row conducting hypertension screenings.
Tabassum wanted to tell her parents about the honor with a cake that said “Val part two” on it. She was also valedictorian in high school but couldn’t celebrate it due to Covid-19.
“Of course, they were really happy and my mom started crying and my dad was like, I don’t get it, what’s on the cake?” said Tabassum.
One of the salutatorians for the Class of 2024 was James McColl. McColl is a senior from Chicago with a computer science major and entrepreneurship minor. He was proud of himself and the experiences he underwent in order to get to this point.
“The title itself is great. But it’s really just the experiences that have led to this point, I would say, have meant the world,” said McColl.
McColl founded a club called USC Theater Showcase Group (TSG) during the first semester of his sophomore year. The club would meet up once a week to rehearse a group musical theater song in preparation for the end of their semester performance. The ticket money from that performance goes towards the Harmony Project, whose mission was to fund and provide arts programs for underfunded schools in the L.A. area. They raised about $5,000.
“It’s been great to see just the community that’s come out of that. People are super passionate about just performing and what we do, which is awesome,” said McColl.
McColl credits his collegiate accomplishments and opportunities to USC. “To become salutatorian, I think it takes a lot of hard work. It takes even being passionate about helping the USC community but it also just takes really loving the school and being excited about taking advantage of as many USC opportunities as you can.”
The second salutatorian for the class of 2024 was Lisa Tchitchkan. Tchitchkan, who’s originally from Belarus, was a human biology and psychology major but changed to a double major in neuroscience and Spanish because it was the perfect mix of everything she was looking for.
“The reason why I really love those two [majors] is because I really like understanding how people essentially think – and not just how they think on an interpersonal basis, but also just the molecular reasons behind how people are perceiving what they’re perceiving, why people are the way they are, and I think science really allows you to explore that a little bit more,” Tchitchkan said.
Tchitchkan has two primary clubs that she has been involved with since she started at USC. Since her freshman year, Tchitchkan has been a part of USC InterAxon, a K through 12 outreach organization for local underserved schools.
“It’s really fun to essentially teach kids about not only its existence but also teach them that it’s possible to pursue neuroscience at a higher level. That it’s possible to get to graduate school, and go to medical school and [we] encourage these kids to follow whatever interests they like,” Tchitchkan said.
She also helped in the creation of the Trojan Health Interpretation Services (THIS). The club trains bilingual students in Spanish and English to become volunteer medical interpreters and help bridge the gap between English-speaking physicians and Spanish-speaking patients.
Tchitchkan reflected on her journey from where she first started at USC until now as a salutatorian.
“I think being a salutatorian now, and comparing that to where I was my freshman year when I was first admitted to USC, serves as an example that even though things might be tough when you first come to USC, it is possible to kind of still do well here because there’s so much support that USC gives you,” she said.
Tchitchkan’s two biggest supporters who she credits for her success are her parents. She has a strong relationship with her parents and said she feels thankful that they have been supportive of her throughout her life.
“They’ve supported me throughout this entire journey: encouraging me, especially during that freshman fall when I didn’t feel like I belonged here. They told me to believe in myself and essentially, make it through college and get to where I am now, which I’m very, very fortunate to be at,” Tchitchkan said.
The valedictorian and salutatorians will be recognized for their academic achievements, consideration, service and leadership during this year’s graduation alongside a speech by the valedictorian.
CORRECTION: The story has been updated to clarify that the valedictorian and salutatorian honors are not determined by the highest GPA but by a multitude of factors including involvement and a formal interview process. The story was also updated to reflect that James McColl founded the club Theatre Showcase Group, and the story has been updated to clarify where Lisa Tchitchkan is from originally.