I joined Code the Change during the spring semester of my freshman year and met some of the most interesting people I know here at USC. The people in CTC helped me not only learn more about web development but also gave me a community to become a part of.
Code the Change is a student-run organization that helps build software for non-profit organizations in Los Angeles! We aim to help these organizations provide support for people in need of resources. Most recently, we’ve built a messenger app for the Center for Health Justice to help recently incarcerated men and women adjust to a new life as well as an employment matching service for Chrysalis to allow low-income individuals to more easily find work. In the process, we’ve become a close-knit group of friends and enjoy our time away from coding! I always enjoy our evening runs to Korean barbeque and our team potlucks.
Meet the crew!
Keeping up with tradition, we had our end-of-semester retreat to celebrate all our hard work! This time, we visited the Will Rogers Beach in Santa Monica. We spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun and throwing a frisbee around (or in my case, accidentally throwing it in the ocean). We also stopped by Go Greek Yogurt for the best frozen yogurt in Beverly Hills before heading to our Airbnb to wind down.
Goofing around at Will Rogers Beach
We spent the rest of the evening saying goodbye to our graduating seniors. This year was a particularly significant goodbye – most of our seniors were a part of the class that founded CTC. As a parting gift, we surprised our seniors with mason jars filled with notes and memories we’ve shared with them throughout the years. It’s a bittersweet goodbye but I know they’ll come back to visit and check on us!
This retreat was a nice short break from studying for finals and a brief reminder that college goes by quickly! I’m lucky to already have shared so many experiences with the friends I’ve made in Code the Change and I’m looking forward to many more next year. For now, enjoy your summer and fight on!
[author title=”Author” author_id=””]
href="#" data-color-override="false" data-hover-color-override="false" data-hover-text-color-override="#fff">Button Text
