USC Commencement 2008: Extraordinary Graduates

More than 10,000 students will receive degrees from the University of Southern California on Friday, May 16. Here are some of their stories:

Seventeen-Year-Old Dances to Her Own Tune

At 17, Deara Okonkwo is this year’s youngest USC graduate, but she’s already teaching others. Three years ago, Okonkwo started a nonprofit dance studio in South Los Angeles, drawing students from the surrounding community, including homeless shelters.

“The kids are naturally talented, but I wanted to help them take those skills and apply them to everything from ballet to tango,” Okonkwo says.

While at USC, Okonkwo — who is trilingual — volunteered in Los Angeles public schools, further combining her passions for teaching and movement.

“Whether the topic is social science, math or poetry, I always try to use performing arts,” Okonkwo says of teaching fourth graders. “For example, we might create a rap song with numbers to have them practice math concepts but express themselves with hip-hop and jazz.”

Students from Okonkwo’s dance studio, Dede Dance Studio, will be performing as part of USC’s commencement festivities. The organization raises money through talent competitions and dance parties for teens, and Okonkwo proudly notes that they recently saved enough to install floor-to-ceiling mirrors in the studio.

“I had the drive, but my parents were the support,” says Okonkwo, a senator in the USC Undergraduate Student Government. “I was the top of the table, they were my legs. They kept me up.”

In the fall, Okonkwo will be attending a master’s program at the USC Rossier School of Education.

Software in the Blink of an Eye: Engineer Creates Programs for the Disabled

In 24 hours, Christopher Leung got 30 college students to invent closed captioning for online videos, a program that responds to eye-blinking, and cell phone software that tells you what number is on that dollar bill you’re holding.

These were only some of the results of “SS12: Code for a Cause,” one of the largest “code-a-thons” ever. The event was organized by Project: Possibility, a nonprofit Leung founded while at USC to promote open-source software for disabled people.

“I looked around and found that there’s a lack of software for the needs of many disabled persons,” recalls Leung, who graduates this month with a master’s degree in Computer Science.

Realizing that skilled programmers surrounded him, Leung decided to make a difference. Since its founding a year ago, the nonprofit has attracted support from the likes of Google, Microsoft and Mozilla. And while Leung is off to Shanghai after graduation, he plans to remain active and help Project: Possibility expand within USC and beyond.

Other projects developed by volunteers include video games that respond to simple yes/no controls, accessible digital tuning software for musical instruments, and a predicting program that allows users to type with fewer keystrokes.

Korean Air Employee Learns on the Fly

After working for Korean Air for 15 years, Byeong Ho Gong decided to take better advantage of his job perks. Yes, free air travel, but also full-time advanced training at one of the world’s top engineering schools.

Korean Air provided Gong with three round-trip flights per semester to Los Angeles while he earned a master’s in Systems Architecture and Engineering from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

“This program helped my management skills and knowledge for engineering management,” Gong says. “I learned collaboration teamwork through the team project as well.”

The rest of the time, an ocean away in Busan, South Korea, Gong completed most of his coursework online.

Through the USC Distance Education Network, which has more than 1,300 enrolled students worldwide, Gong was able to view the same lectures as students on campus and ask live questions of professors through a toll-free phone line or email chat.

“I am proud to be a USC alumnus,” says Gong, who has since been promoted to general manager in the Seoul office of Korean Air. “I strongly encourage my colleagues to take the ticket when the chance is available.”

Money No Object for Young Tax Preparer

April may be the cruelest month, but Joy Zuoyi Chen somehow managed to juggle finals with filing taxes for low-income members of the community.

“If you want something done, go to a busy person,” jokes Chen, who graduates with a double major in Accounting from the USC Leventhal School of Accounting and piano performance from the USC Thornton School of Music.

Chen is the director of the USC-sponsored Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, which is overseen by the IRS. Working with employees of financial services powerhouse Deloitte & Touche, USC students are trained and receive certification to file taxes.

“Not only are you helping other people who depend on you, but you know you can deliver,” says Chen, a USC Renaissance Scholar.

One of Chen’s most memorable moments with VITA came when filing taxes for a freelance musician. A Web-based tax program initially computed that the musician owed more than $2,000. “She had no idea where this was coming from and was extremely scared,” Chen recounts.

Chen explained how deductions work and sent the client home. They emailed back and forth: “She kept asking, ‘Is this deductible?’”

Eventually, Chen was able to help the musician receive a $500 tax refund.

“It’s more than a tax return,” says Chen, who adds that, despite most people’s impressions to the contrary, tax accounting is an intimate client service. “You have to be sensitive in so many ways.”

Architecture Star Returns to School To Study Sustainability

Mic Patterson is one of the world’s leading experts in glass structures. His firm, Advanced Structures Inc., is responsible for the exterior of the Bangkok airport and for Biosphere 2 at the University of Arizona, among other widely recognizable projects.

But Patterson admits that there are some buildings he worked on over the course of his illustrious career that he is not proud of from an environmental perspective. As he puts it, if there was a concern about thermal issues, the consideration became the size of the high-volume air conditioner.

So, instead of retiring, Patterson decided to come back to school, to help solve some of the issues that we all face.

“I’ve done a lot of stuff, and I’ve enjoyed my life. But to be 59 and to have this sort of learning experience has been profound and exhilarating,” Patterson says.

Patterson’s thesis, which ended up being more than 400 pages long, is about how innovative technologies are adopted and what we might do to facilitate that process. This month, Patterson graduates at the top of his class from the USC School of Architecture with a master’s in Building Science.

“A lot of the problems we’re facing today happened under our watch,” he says, referring to his fellow baby boomers. “We can’t afford to live off the fat of the land. We’ve got to hang in and contribute.”

For more information about USC’s commencement activities, please visit www.usc.edu/dept/pubrel/specialevents/commencement.

Contact: Suzanne Wu at (213) 740-0252 or suzanne.wu@usc.edu

From University of Southern California Media Relations
Los Angeles, Calif.
Tel: (213) 740-2215
Fax: (213) 740-7600