Second-generation Trojan defines first-class values

Christian Kurth is a second-generation Trojan and first in his family to lead USC’s student government.

Undergraduate Student Government (USG) President Kurth, a double major in business and accounting, said he chose USC because of the academic reputation of the USC Marshall School of Business and the USC Leventhal School of Accounting. But, he admitted, there was also the “prodding” from his family to consider.

“My mom, my aunt and my uncle are all first-generation Americans from Mexico and they all went to USC,” Kurth explained. “They live just down the street on Normandie [Avenue]” — so close, in fact, that Kurth’s grandfather dropped them off at school every morning and picked them up at night.

Kurth’s experience in student government started in high school. As a USC freshman, he met the USG president.

“He gave me the blueprint to get me where I am today,” said Kurth, who started as a USG University Affairs committee member, moved on to University Affairs director and then ran for USG president. In addition to his student government experience, Kurth credits his four years as a tour guide with the Admission Office as being the “most defining” of his USC career.

Though he said he used to hate public speaking, walking backwards for 90 minutes while talking to complete strangers has given him valuable experience that he’s transferred to other activities.

Kurth is a member of the Latino Alumni Association, the Trojan Investing Society and the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. When it comes to academics, he seeks out older students as well as faculty mentors such as Professor of Clinical Accounting Merle Hopkins, who said, “Christian has always exhibited the characteristics we hope to find in our accounting students at USC.”

Kurth is more than willing to share his experiences with younger students.

“Don’t be afraid of the upperclassmen,” he tells them. “When I was a freshman, I found people I knew I wanted to be like when I was a senior and I talked to them.”

His final message: “Don’t waste any time and get involved as soon as you get here.”