USC Marshall School of Business

Three student profiles

The Schoen Family Scholarship Program for Veterans Endowment was established at USC in 1986. Their recent $10 million gift will increase the endowment significantly and create new funding for veterans who attend USC.

With this gift, the Schoen family has contributed a total of $16 million, and to date the endowment has provided $1.2 million in financial support to 173 students at the university. Following are highlights of experiences of three recent Schoen Family Scholarship program recipients.

Andre Anthony '08

Andre Anthony '08 grew up just down the street from USC. Despite the proximity to campus, Anthony, a first-generation American whose family hails from Belize, says he did not consider college as an option. Instead, Anthony signed up for the Navy the summer before his senior year of high school and, upon graduation, went on to serve as a nuclear engineer from 1997-2003. About halfway through service, however, Anthony started thinking about life after the military.

"One of the things I did was analyze the military as a whole, and I realized every department had some sort of business aspect to it," says Anthony. "I wanted to set myself up to be able to go into any kind of career or company and that's when I realized I really wanted to study business because it was something broad and part of every environment you could think about."

Anthony applied for and received Schoen scholarships during his second and third years at USC Marshall. He says the Schoen's support had a profound impact on him while at school – and beyond.

"The scholarship made me realize there were opportunities for vets out there and just personally boosted my morale," says Anthony, who is a management consultant for Deloitte Consulting in Los Angeles and comes back to speak to students at Marshall every year about his career and life. "I didn't know of any opportunities where my veteran status really made a difference, but it was the first wake-up call to me that people really do appreciate it and there are opportunities for veterans out there."

Karla Leyva '12

After Karla Leyva '12 finished two tours of duty in Iraq in the U.S. Army, she returned home to Southern California and enrolled in a community college. As she decided to focus on a career in accounting, the USC Leventhal School of Accounting was a clear first choice, but the tuition seemed out of reach.

Leyva learned of the Schoen Family Scholarship after being accepted to USC Leventhal and says the program allowed her to pursue her dreams. "I didn't know how I was going to pay for my education at Leventhal," says Leyva. "When I attended a scholarship luncheon, it really hit home how grateful I was to receive this support."

Leyva has thrived at USC Leventhal as she has gained invaluable classroom and work experience. She has interned at KPMG and looks forward to entering the workforce when she graduates this spring.

"This scholarship allowed me to attend USC and to graduate without loans," Leyva says. "I'm so grateful to the Schoen family. They have allowed me to accomplish my goals."

Nicholas Shipley '08

For Nicholas Shipley '08 the Schoen Family Scholarship Program helped him bridge a critical need.

Finding himself in need of summer courses to graduate before his GI Bill funding expired, Shipley needed assistance to cover the cost of the additional courses. "The Schoen Family Scholarship helped make it possible for me to attend the necessary courses during the summer so I could graduate," says Shipley, who served as a combat engineer for eight years with the National Guard and on active duty.

The California native, who joined the military in 2001 to "gain discipline and to proudly fight for my country," credits his time at Marshall – and the financial help he received – for changing his life.

"Marshall successfully integrates book knowledge with 'real world' scenarios. From the Experiential Learning Center to the countless classroom group presentations, USC Marshall prepares every student to be successful from start to finish, interview to career," says Shipley, who concentrated on real estate finance while at USC and currently works as a financial institution specialist at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. "My education at Marshall is what landed me a great career in a tough job market."