Getting in the Spirit of Troy

Friday, February 15, 2008

Page 15

AT THE SIDEBAR (Column)

Getting in the Spirit of Troy

By J’AMY PACHECO

In most households with a ‘tween resident, mention of the name “Troy” conjures images of the brown-haired heartthrob of the hit movies in the “High School Musical” series. It would probably not be much of a surprise to anyone that a newly-minted 12-year-old would be delighted to have “Troy” take part in her birthday celebration.

When she turned 12 last week, there was “Troy” involvement, and it did happen on her birthday. But it had nothing to do with the tousle-haired singing basketball player. Although she likes the movies, my daughter is not a big fan of the character or the actor. She’s more of an “Indiana Jones” kind of girl.

Instead, she spent her birthday discovering the Spirit of Troy during a tour of the University of Southern California.

This might seem like an unusual way for a 12-year-old to want to spend her birthday. But my odd little girl decided in first grade that she would graduate from USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering, then go to work as a Disney Imagineer. I always thought she’d change her mind and want to be a ballerina or a pop star, but it’s been five years, and she hasn’t wavered in either choice.

Never mind that she’d never set foot on USC’s campus before last week. It was the school from which her grandmother, her aunt and her cousin graduated, and she was determined to follow in their footsteps. Besides, she reasoned, USC is one of the few – if not the only – school with a “real” mascot rather than somebody in a costume. I’d challenge anybody to find a cooler mascot than the noble white horse, Traveler.

It was a beautiful day when we stepped onto the campus. It had been 37 degrees when we left our desert home, but it had to be close to 80 in Los Angeles. I was sweltering in my winter clothes, but my daughter had wisely worn the sleeveless USC cheerleader outfit Grandma gave her for Christmas. We checked in at the Admission Office, and were instructed to wait at the statue of Tommy Trojan for our guide.

Tommy was a familiar site to us – my daughter often signs on to USC’s Web site just to watch people meander past the TommyCam. But he was very impressive in person – in no small part, we learned later, because he was created from images of the best parts of the best looking guys at USC, back in the day.

Our walking tour got off to an exciting start when a vehicle full of admissions staff pulled up. Our tour guide introduced herself and mentioned that she’d heard it was “someone’s” birthday. Our guide and her colleagues proceeded to sing “Happy Birthday” to my future Trojan, then did a rousing rendition (could there be any other kind?) of the SoCal Spellout.

My daughter was embarrassed, but hasn’t stopped talking about it since. It was a heck of an introduction to the Trojan spirit.

Our tour took us past the building where USC held its first classes in 1880 – with 53 students and 10 instructors. We entered Heritage Hall, where we gazed at Heisman Trophies and other honors bestowed upon USC athletes over the years. We strolled past the track, where we watched pole vaulters and runners warm up – and wondered which would one day have their names inscribed on the Olympic monuments outside the track.

Although our tour lasted only an hour, it was a memorable experience. At its conclusion, I took my daughter into the three-story student store, where we purchased a lifetime supply of USC pencils, tablets, work folders, pins, and anything else a future Trojan might need to get through her last year of elementary school.

We also wandered the campus on our own, and found the engineering school. I took pictures of my tiny cheerleader in front of the Viterbi sign, and wondered if she would indeed have what it would take to one day be a student there.

As we explored, students stopped us to see if we were lost. A security guard called us over – to make sure we knew about a clearance sale on USC spirit wear. A bookstore employee went to a lot of trouble to look up the price of USC pencils so my daughter could figure out if she could afford to buy them for all her classmates (she could, and did).

I’m an overprotective mother, and always thought I would dread the day I had to take my daughter to college. But at USC, I felt so at home, so welcome, that I almost look forward to the day I get to see her dream come true.

If our time at USC is any indication of what life would be like there, then this is one mommy who is ready to see her little girl “Fight On!”