During Trojan Family Weekend, parents have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the USC experience through a variety of seminars, events, and tours. The annual celebration kicked off on Thursday and continues into the weekend, highlighted by the upcoming football game between USC and Wisconsin at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
USC Viterbi School of Engineering parents Margaret Muir and Andrew Ketterson said attending the Dean’s Reception allowed them to have a grasp on how to handle the transition that comes with having their child study out of state.
“[The event] gave a few tips on how parents should interact with their child, [such as] don’t try to solve their problem, but ask them,” said Ketterson.
Muir and Ketterson said the events offered by Viterbi throughout Family Weekend assured their decision to send their daughter to USC.
“You can see the engineering school was quite proud to have equal numbers of women and men admitted, and they should be proud of that, because so often engineering schools skew towards males and so they must make an effort to bring people,” said Ketterson.
Annenberg parents Mike Szymanski and Jackie Bigneault from Ridgewood, New Jersey said they were excited to see the buildings and environments of their daughter, a freshman studying journalism.
Szymanski and Bigneault attended a multitude of events offered within the first two days.
“I think it’s been fantastic. We’ve been to two events already,” said Bigneault. “We have met a lot of people that work for Annenberg, and today we went to another reception this morning, the breakfast with Dean Willow Bay and met a lot of people from development, and they’re just so welcoming.”
Syzmanski said he approached the events throughout Family Weekend as an opportunity to remain informed and prepared on how to best support their students.
“One thing I think is great is the Supporting Thriving Trojans session with the psychologist that is sort of embedded into the Anneberg program. If there’s someone that is looking out for the students, especially because we live on the East Coast.”
Sherry Feinstein from Palo Alto, California said she held a similar pride for being an Annenberg parent because of the intimate community within the department.
“I liked that Annenberg had something specific for parents that [brought] Annenberg families together,” said Feinstein. “I’ve met some really lovely families and some administration…everyone is very accessible.”
After a day of events, Szymanski expressed appreciation for USC’s efforts to make life at the university an enjoyable and productive experience for his daughter.
“It seems like USC is ready to partner with her on that by just getting her involved,” said Szymanski.
“I think she’s at the exact right place,” said Bigneault.