Trojan Guardian Scholars finds new home

The Trojan Guardian Scholars program moved from the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences to its new home at the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work has been finalized, a process that began last May.

USC’s Guardian Scholars program was founded in 2014 by Wendy Smith, former associate dean of Planning and Curriculum Development at the Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, with the intention of finding ways to assist those who had experienced foster care in becoming “successful members of the academic community.” While officially launched through Dornsife, Dworak-Peck was already involved, as students in the Master of Social Work program provided counseling to TGS students in the early days of the program.

Now, the program has transitioned from involving Dworak-Peck to being a part of it. Professor Sara McSweyn, the TGS program coordinator, said the faculty’s knowledge and understanding of the foster care system will be an asset to TGS.

“What we like about it being at USC School of Social Work is that history, that tradition of academic work, research, and very thorough and a deep understanding of the experience of foster care,” McSweyn said. “We can leverage the knowledge base, the values of our profession and fold them into the work that we do with this population of students.”

Beth Lucas, an alum from Dworak-Peck and practical instructor for TGS, said an advantage of the program being housed at Dworak-Peck is the faculty’s understanding of trauma. Oftentimes, students who are impacted by trauma do not realize it until they receive help from a professional — such as a social worker — to uncover the root of their problems, Lucas said.

“As social workers, we’re trained to look at the whole person to understand what their background is and if they are addressing some type of problem, how that is linked to their past experiences,” Lucas said. 

McSweyn said Dworak-Peck would provide additional resources to the program, such as a dedicated Trojan Guardianship center, complete with a fridge, microwave and desktop computer. 

Under Dornsife, TGS shared a hub with the First Generation Student Center. McSweyn said that, although that student center was a valuable resource, these two groups of students do not always overlap, making the creation of a TGS space vital.

In addition to the new hub for the program, Lucas said that Dworak-Peck has been immensely beneficial to the program, with faculty from all areas of expertise coming together to assist with grant writing, fundraising and event planning. 

“The dedication from [Dworak-Peck] has been overwhelming,” Lucas said. “The support we’ve been getting … is just going to propel the program to the next level and provide even more opportunities for our students.”