Memories w/ ISA

Hi! My name is Hsu, pronounced “Sue” and definitely not “Shoe” as some of the ISA people may accidentally or intentionally say. I’m an international student from Yangon, Myanmar and a sophomore currently majoring in Business Admin! While I’m an intern at ISA, I am also on the Eboard for USC BURSA (Burmese Student Association) which is a member org under ISA. I’ll expand more on what that means later, but for now here’s some of my most memorable moments as an ISA intern: 

1 - First headshot and first big 

Since I took a gap semester, ISA is actually the first org I joined when USC became in-person. One of my earliest memories was when I got my first professional headshot taken for the ISA website! It rained on the first day so some of us had to get ready twice, but a huge thank you to ISA because I use that picture EVERYWHERE now. On that same day I also got my very first big! This was a very exciting day in my life, since I felt like I was having an actual college experience after a whole semester of online classes from 11pm-7am. 

2 - Events

Some significant events I had the chance to help out with would be tabling the friendship bracelet booth for Global Cultural Night and controlling the big screen for International Trivia Night. The most recent event that I really enjoyed would definitely be the speaker’s event with Yes Theory as guests! On the other hand, one unique memory I have from other interns is The Festival of Lights cultural event by BURSA and TUSA. Member orgs under ISA can receive funding for events during general meetings and I was the BURSA representative that had to do this presentation. These events help me stay connected with my international identity and sort of  creates this safe space for diversity at USC. Overall, being a part of ISA has also really made me appreciate the people that do all the behind the scene labors and paperworks that goes into the planning and execution of such events.

3 - ISA Bonding

Within ISA we do various bonding activities like retreats to the Santa Monica Beach or spontaneously waiting 2 hours for Insomnia cookies after a meeting. We also do this thing called “coffee meets donuts” where two random people get paired every few weeks to hang out and get to know each other better! These bonding activities help break the ice and let you get closer with people you might not have the chance to talk to before. ISA is really just the perfect environment where you get to be professional, but also make meaningful friendships.

I truly love the people I’ve met through ISA and can’t wait to see more of the exciting things we will achieve in the future!