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Resources for USC students ⟩
November 18, 2016, by Erwin

Community Getting Involved Living in LA School/Life Balance

Being a Trojan has its perks. In addition to getting a top-notch degree in occupational therapy, USC also offers students unique opportunities to make their time here truly one-of-a-kind.

Some of the amazing things that USC has to offer include athletic special events, concerts, theatre, distinguished speakers, and jazz series. Personally, I try to take advantage of all of these opportunities — especially USC football.

USC also provides opportunities to get involved through community outreach, cultural committees, and leadership. Specifically in the division, students can get involved in various programs. Many students that live in the OT House are involved in Engage, a program that works with at-risk adolescents by giving them an opportunity to participate in diverse activities. Other division organizations include the Latino Occupational Therapy Association, Occupational Therapy and Science Council, and Student-Run Clinic.

Here’s me with the other members of the Occupational Therapy and Science Council!

USC is also invested in your wellness, which is awesome because that is what occupational therapy is all about! USC students have access to both the Lyon Center and Soto gyms, recreational sports, the Eric Cohen Student Health Center, and of course, USC Occupational Therapy’s own Lifestyle Redesign®.

Lastly, being a student at USC also means you have all of beautiful Southern California to your disposal. Los Angeles has a lot to offer: museums, concerts, sports, and did I mention the food?!?! My classmates and I have bonded so much in the past year and we’ve been able to go to places unique to Southern California. Not many OT students get to say they visit Disneyland, go to Lakers and Dodger games, beach trips, and explore LA on their free time.

Here at USC, there’s always an opportunity to do the things that you find meaningful!

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Visit to El Sereno Middle School! ⟩
November 17, 2016, by Alyssa

Community What are OS/OT?

A few weeks ago, Dr. Jesús Díaz and I made a visit to El Sereno Middle School! We spent our day in Mrs. Elizabeth Buck’s science classroom. During out visit, we had the chance to meet her 7th and 8th students and talk to them about the field of occupational therapy and teach them things, such as where OTs work and who we treat. In addition, we were also able to share the value we see in pursuing college through our own college experiences here at USC! Mrs. Buck’s students were a pleasure to meet and we especially admired their respect and interest in our presentations. Specifically, we were very impressed on how well they were able to define occupational therapy after our group discussion. We appreciate the thanks and feedback they sent us and I would like to share some of these with you!

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Thanksgiving Potluck 2016 ⟩
November 14, 2016, by Raisa

Community International Living in LA

Can you believe that we only have about two more months to go before 2016 ends?! That also means that the fall semester ends in around 5 weeks! Yikes!

So November is here! Time to enjoy the cooling weather and fun fall activities. One notable fall event that should not be missed is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a traditional American holiday that is usually celebrated on the fourth thursday of November. However, thanksgiving came early for us this year. The MA-1 students were able to celebrate together on the beach, in true California fashion, all thanks to the efforts of Global Initiatives and Dr. Erna Blanche. The day was filled with fun, sand, waves and lots of food. Traditionally Thanksgiving would be celebrated with a whole oven roasted turkey, but we decided to take a trip around the world. Since it was a potluck, the class each shared a dish from their country. We had dishes from India, Taiwan, Philippines, Korea, Scotland, Italy and America, our bellies were stuffed! After the festivities, and a nice game of charades we headed out to the beach to watch the sunset. Needless to say it was beautiful. The sound of the waves crashing, the colors of the sun setting and the changing sky were magical. It was truly a beautiful end to such a lovely day.

On behalf of the MA-1 class I would like to extend our gratitude to Global Initiatives and Dr. Erna Blanche for hosting and coordinating this thanksgiving potluck for the class. It was a lovely day, and great way to get to know everyone through their food as well as culture.

Here are some pictures from our trip (all photos used with permission from owners, Arielle Villanueva and Kathryna Gomez).

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Capturing Memories ⟩
November 4, 2016, by Alyssa

Community Videos

As an occupational therapy student, life is surely eventful! I find that my days are always spent socializing with others, whether it’s in the classroom with my professors, grabbing a coffee with my OT friends, working in the office with the student ambassadors, or eating dinner with my family. One of my favorite occupations, in addition to spending time with others, is to capture fun memories by taking photos! I take photos because I like to smile and share these memories with others. Here is a video of some of my memories that have been captured thus far this fall semester! Fight on!

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A Month into the Program ⟩
October 5, 2016, by Raisa

Community International Living in LA

Hello, everyone! For my first ever blog post as an international student ambassador, I wanted to share with you how my first month as a Trojan went. Being an international student I basically had to uproot my life in the Philippines in order to move to Los Angeles so I could attend the on-campus post-professional Master of Arts in Occupational Therapy program here at USC. Migrating from one country to another is not as easy as it sounds, it sure was exciting but not easy. One month before my flight, time sped up so fast it literally felt like everything happened in the blink of an eye. The hardest part of the move was saying goodbye to my friends, workmates, and family. Then the day finally came when I said goodbye to my homeland of 24 years and embarked on a new exciting adventure.

Arriving in Los Angeles was both fun and scary, this city was a new environment, similar to home but at the same time different in many ways. It felt good to have a change of environment. To mark our entrance into the medical profession the division held a white coat ceremony for all new students. The white coat ceremony was a rite of passage that all OT students go through, the white coat symbolizes both the responsibility and the privilege that we hold as occupational therapists. During my ceremony that’s when it all sunk in, I was finally a Trojan!

Once class started I did not feel so alien to the city of LA. I met my classmates from the MA-1 program and we all got along really well, it was nice to form a support system in a new environment. For the first month of classes, I was delighted and eager to absorb all that USC has to offer. I will not lie, the first few weeks of class will take some getting used to. You will have to acclimate to the methods of teaching, medium of instruction and for some of my classmates’ language posed a big issue to learning. There will be sleepless nights and books you will read over and over again but don’t worry. The good news is that all that work will be worth it! In my 4½ weeks into the program, I have learned many new concepts that will shape how I will hold my future practice. The best part is that I am re-learning concepts from my undergraduate degree but I am learning them from a different perspective. It is both refreshing and eye-opening to study different occupational therapy concepts from a different point of view. One month into the program and I am falling more in love with Occupational Therapy! My first month as a Trojan has been exhilarating and I cannot wait to share with you what else USC has in store for me.

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