New York Trojans Hold Tight to USC Ties
East Coast alumni dont have to look far to feel the Trojan love.
Three thousand miles. Thats roughly the distance between USCs University Park Campus and New York City. Yet about 7,000 USC alumni call the New York City metropolitan area home. The USC Alumni Club of New York is one of the USC Alumni Associations most active regionally based groups, and the university maintains an office on Madison Avenue near Central Park. For many alumni who headed east after graduation, distance is no detriment to strong Trojan Family ties. Meet three whose lives are shaped by their USC experience.
Penny Abeywardena 99
Born in Sri Lanka, raised in Los Angeles and reborn in New York, Penny Abeywardena discovered USC after her older brother got in. He also helped launch her familys love for Trojan football. When it was her turn to choose a university, she sought out international affairs and business programs and zeroed in on USC.
Abeywardena dove into political science as a student and found professors who shaped the trajectory of her career. The insight of one in particular stuck with her: She said, Its taken 16 different careers to get here and make me who I am. Dont get too committed to what the next thing is; just stay true to your values.
With that in mind, while getting her masters degree at Columbia University in international relations, Abeywardena continued volunteering with Human Rights Watch, an organization shed worked with as a Trojan. The work led her to join the Clinton Global Initiativea Clinton Foundation effort to solve international challengeswhere she was warmly welcomed with a Fight On hello by coworker Anne Weir 04.
I was really surprised, Abeywardena says. Id been in New York for a long time and never ran into another Trojan. When Abeywardena married three years later, Weirs husband, fellow Trojan Matt Weir 03, officiated.
Abeywardena now serves as the commissioner of the New York Mayors Office for International Affairs, and she welcomed a son, Wilmet, this year. My New York-based Trojan family is small, Abeywardena says, but theyve been powerful in my life.
Callie Schweitzer 11
Callie Schweitzer stepped on USCs campus for the first time on a high school campus tour and was instantly smitten. It was my first time experiencing the Trojan Family spirit, and by the end of the tour, I too was fighting on, says the Larchmont, New York native.
Schweitzer immersed herself in campus life as an Annenberg Ambassador and Scholar, Presidential Scholar and editor-in-chief of Neon Tommy, at that time USC Annenberg students digital news site. At Neon Tommy, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism professors Alan Mittelstaedt and Marc Cooper inspired her direction. They taught me theres no such thing as a student journalist, and that age should never hold you back from asking important questions, Schweitzer says.
After graduation, the print and digital journalism major had one destination. New York is the center of the media world, and I knew its where I wanted to start my career, she says.
And what a start. She made AdWeeks 2015 Future Publishers list and landed roles as Time Inc.s editorial director of audience strategy and founder of one of its newest websites, Motto. Today, shes managing editor of Arianna Huffingtons new media venture, Thrive Global. With her success, Schweitzer still looks back to USC fondly. My experience running Neon Tommy gave me an entrepreneurial hunger and jump-started my career.
Jason Wong 03
Jason Wongs introduction to California came when he visited his older brother at UC Berkeley. But when it was time to apply for college, the native New Yorker decided to give USC a shot. The universitys diversity stood out, as did its generous financial aid packagea big relief to the family since his father already was working 80 hours a week at the familys restaurant business.
USC orientation brought some big surprises. This Brooklyn boy grew up in the concrete jungle of New York, almost never seeing trees or grass, he says. I was like, What are palm trees?!
Wong juggled political science and history majors while volunteering as a community service coordinator for a fraternity. After graduation, Wong attended Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York so he could be near his family.
To keep up with Trojan football, he joined the USC Alumni Club of New York, where he ran into former classmate Gemma Han 05. Seven football seasons later, Wong and Han are engaged. Its nice to be in a relationship with a fellow Trojan, especially during the craziness of football season.
Today, Wong is a deputy chief counsel for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Because I didnt accrue undergraduate debt, I was able to attend law school and go into public service, he says. USC made my dream job possible.