As I have mentioned, I love watching sports, so I’m writing this as I watch the CONCACAF Gold Cup match against Costa Rica! Go USA! Anyways, this summer has been exciting! I went back home to San Diego for the summer, which was much needed because I started missing my family towards the end of spring semester.  It also gave me a time to catch up on all those doctors’ appointments I had put off.

My first weekend back I had the opportunity to go to the Reality Changers America’s Finest event.  This event was a scholarship celebration for 200 graduating high school seniors who will become first-generation college students in their families.  In total they earned over $14,000,000 in scholarships to attend prestigious colleges across the nation.  This was truly an inspirational experience as some even shared their moving college essays from memory. No script, no papers, no flashcards.

I also went to my high school’s graduation to see my friend, a future Trojan, and the 17 other future Trojans graduating. I even ran into Makana, we went to the same high school. It was great to be back home and see everyone graduate. I can’t believe that was just a year ago! Time truly flies when you are living the amazing Viterbi Life.

This past weekend I went to LA with my aunt who was in town vacationing from Las Vegas.  I enjoyed a day of touristy things I never really had the chance to do before. We went to the Pasadena Flea Market at the Rose Bowl (a famous flea market celebrities sometimes shop at), ate world-famous Pink’s Hot Dogs, went shopping on Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice, and I even asked if we could drive past SC and get 21 Choices because I was missing school so much.  Overall it was a great day getting to do some of the touristy things in LA.

Lastly, I have been interning this summer for my dad’s online media company. I have helped him re-launch a new website and add more content.  It may not be an engineering internship, but I am learning valuable lessons about creating websites, SEO, what I want my future job to be like, and the importance of loving what you do.  I know that understanding the fundamentals of websites will somehow help me in the future because of the prominence of technology in our world.  Also, I can’t complain about working from home and having flexible hours!

Anyways, summer has been great, but I am definitely missing USC and all my friends at school! Just a little under a month until I will be back in LA for my sophomore year! Until then, hope you’re having a wonderful summer!

Reality Changers
Kelsey and me at graduation! Fight On!

Kelsey and me at graduation! Fight On!

Pasadena Flea Market

Pasadena Flea Market!

Enjoying the 4th with family!

Enjoying the 4th with family!

Lauren-2016

Lauren-2016

Industrial & Systems Engineering, Class of 2016, Learn more on her profile here!