Student Blog
Avery

Looking to get involved? Check out one of my favorite clubs at USC ⟩
February 9, 2025, by Avery

Community Getting Involved

When arriving at USC (as an undergraduate or graduate student), getting involved in student organizations can feel daunting and overwhelming. There are 100s to choose from — and attending meetings can feel intimidating or stressful to balance with the demands of a large school workload.

So . . . let me make it easy for you! If you are passionate about working with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (as many OTs are), one of my favorite student organizations that I am a part of is the USC chapter of Best Buddies Club.

Best Buddies is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to creating opportunities for friendship, leadership development, and inclusion for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). It operates through programs in schools, workplaces, and communities, fostering one-to-one friendships, job placements, and leadership training to promote social inclusion. It is very common in high schools across the country, but USC is lucky enough to have our own chapter!

Essentially, there are meetings every other week in which USC students socialize with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities from Los Angeles for an hour. In the past we have done fun activities such as gingerbread house making, gone to basketball games, crafts, baked, and played board games.

Last year we went to the Los Angeles Best Buddies friendship walk, where Best Buddies chapters come together from across the state to broaden friendships and to raise money for the Best Buddies organization. This event happens every April and was a highlight of my year.

Some pictures from last year’s friendship walk (click to enlarge)!

I absolutely love this club and recommend it for so many reasons.

Best Buddies is filled with occupational therapy students — both graduate and undergraduate — creating a vibrant, supportive community of future OTs, professionals in related fields, and genuinely kind, uplifting people. For anyone interested in careers in healthcare, education, occupational therapy, or social work, this club offers invaluable, hands-on experience working directly with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Beyond that, it’s an amazing opportunity to connect with passionate advocates and like-minded students who share the same dedication to inclusion and making a difference.

Best Buddies truly creates lasting friendships, and I find that everyone in the room is smiling for the full hour. I often text back and forth with my buddy in the time between meetings. By promoting inclusion and acceptance, this club directly contributes to creating a more inclusive community. You can truly see the difference you’re making in someone’s life — and they make a difference in yours!

Additionally, being a buddy is a relatively low commitment. One hour every two weeks is super easy to fit into my schedule as a busy student. Plus, joining is super easy — you just show up! When you arrive you get put on the members list, and you can then choose to have a one-on-one buddy pairing.

Check USC Best Buddies out on Instagram to learn more info and stay up to date on upcoming events.

If you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to reach out to me! We are always accepting new members, and would love to see your face at the next meeting!

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Day In the Life of an Undergraduate BS-OTD Student Vlog ⟩
December 10, 2024, by Avery

Classes Community Getting Involved Living in LA School/Life Balance Videos

Join me as I take you through what a typical day looks like as an undergraduate student in USC Chan’s accelerated Bachelor’s to Doctorate program in Occupational Therapy! One of the things I love most about this program is the balance it allows me to strike between my occupational therapy (OT) courses, engaging electives, general education classes, extracurriculars, and free time.

From participating in enriching clubs and student organizations to spending quality time with friends and exploring the vibrant city of Los Angeles, I’m able to enjoy a well-rounded college experience while still focusing on my OT studies.

As always, if you have any questions about the BS-OTD program from an undergraduate perspective, feel free to reach out!

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How to Find Scholarships (yes, you qualify!) ⟩
November 5, 2024, by Avery

Admissions Life Hacks School/Life Balance

Let’s be honest — education is expensive, especially at USC. That first time you open your financial aid report can be scary and overwhelming. The weight of potential debt and student loans is daunting, and for many of us, staying in school requires tough sacrifices and working multiple jobs just to make ends meet.

One thing that many students don’t realize however, is just how much free money is available to them in the form of scholarships! I’ve heard it all:

“Oh, I don’t think there’s a chance I would actually win the scholarship.”

“I didn’t realize that I qualified!”

“Wait, I didn’t know this many scholarships were out there!”

“I don’t want to take the time to apply when I could be doing other things or just working a job instead.”

In reality, there are numerous independent organizations that WANT to give you their money so that you can pursue your education. Sometimes, it just takes a little digging to get there! I’ll be honest, taking the time to write the essays, figure out the deadlines, and get letters of recommendation is time consuming. This can feel overwhelming and exhausting, especially with the constant demands of schoolwork as a full-time student. However, at the end of the day, the rate of return on these awards is HIGH. Let’s say you spent 3 hours applying for a $500 scholarship. That equates to earning over $160 an hour. Now imagine if that is a $1,000 application? $5,000? It quickly begins to feel like the time applying for scholarships is being much smarter spent than working a few extra hours at a minimum wage job.

So, where to start? I like to begin by researching scholarship opportunities specific to the area where I am from. While many of these local scholarships are only available for high school seniors, I was really surprised to find out my freshman year that quite a few of them have money available for those already in college as well. These awards are great as they are designated only to a specific area or field, meaning less people can apply = you have a better chance of receiving the money.

Now let’s look towards USC specifically. To begin, when applying to USC (undergrad or OT school), be sure to hit that November 1st EA deadline so that you can be considered for the large merit-based scholarships that are available.

The Chan website has links to resources of external scholarships. The list is long, which means there have to be at least a few you qualify for. My advice is to open a Google Spreadsheet, make columns to label the due date, amount, name of award, link, and basic things needed to apply (essay, letter of rec, transcript, etc). Then, go through every award and add any to your spreadsheet that you meet the criteria to apply to. This will keep you organized and will help to not let any deadlines sneak up on you.

Chan has a page with resources for their internal scholarships. Add these to your spreadsheet as well.

USC also has several scholarships for those engaged in unpaid research. Check out Dornsife’s SOAR-SURF-SHURE scholarships, as well as Chan’s Occupational Therapy Student Research Fund. These can be incredible opportunities to learn and be involved in something that interests you academically, add to your professional resume, and get ‘paid’ simultaneously.

Next, put together a list of companies you have ties to. Think about places you work, shop, where your family and friends work, where you do your banking, non-profits you volunteer at, etc. There’s a good chance one of these organizations has an annual scholarship award.

Finally, many scholarship search engines exist such as scholarships.com and fastweb.com, where you can filter your search based on your area of study and demographics.

Keep track of those deadlines, and happy applying!

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