City must encourage use of summer programs


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As the summer for students at the University of Southern California begins, the school year is still winding to an end for kids within the Los Angeles Unified School District. When I was in middle school and high school, those three months of summer break that laid ahead of me were ideal for spending all […]

Obama College Prep must consider location


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In some cities, the high school you attend can determine a lot about your trajectory in life. This was definitely the case in my hometown of Chicago. On Thursday, I was one of the excited Chicagoans who received news that my hometown would be adding another highly ranked high school to its list of selective-enrollment […]

Time recognition of Beyoncé a significant step


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As much as I love my moody Radiohead music, if I could set my life to a certain soundtrack, it would be completely Beyoncé songs. This playlist would include a throwback to Destiny’s Child’s “Bills, Bills, Bills,” then move on to Queen Bey’s solo work such as “Crazy in Love” and “Single Ladies.” I think […]

Society must empower female leaders


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This past weekend, I had the unique privilege of serving as a panelist at the Young Women’s Political & Civic Leadership Program, hosted by USC’s Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics. Over the course of the hour, I shared what motivated me to run for office at our university with a room full of bright-eyed […]

Facebook’s ‘Nearby Friends’ undermines online privacy


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Privacy has become a thing of the past with the onset of social media. With every tweet, Instagram post and Facebook check-in, we invite fellow social media users to know more about our lives. But even with the multitude of social media features, there must be limits.   Such limits were crossed Monday when Facebook […]

‘Nearby Friends’ application fosters face-to-face interaction


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These days, one of the biggest complaints about social media revolves around its effects on the state of our social and communication skills. Yet with the new Facebook feature “Nearby Friends,” things are looking up for face-to-face — rather than face-to-screen — conversation.   Announced Monday, Nearby Friends is a location tracker app that allows […]

SCOTUS ruling on affirmative action a detrimental step


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The Supreme Court has the double-edged task of preventing the tyranny of both the majority and the minority from infringing on the Constitutional principles enshrined in law for more than 200 years. When the Court places too much faith in either of these bodies, democracy runs afoul of its true purpose at best and has […]

Schools should not threaten suspension carelessly


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Suspension. It has to be one of the scariest words a student can hear, right next to expulsion, that is. A suspension is usually handed down after a student has violated school code and possibly put his or her peers in danger, therefore leading to that student being temporarily prohibited from school grounds and classes. […]