USC Leventhal has long been committed to educating local youth about accounting, while encouraging them to imagine their future at a top-ranked school like USC and a promising professional career.
Leventhal’s Summer Leadership Program (SLP), which brings underrepresented minority high school students to campus for an introduction to accounting and business fundamentals, the admissions process and accounting professionals, and the Leventhal Leadership Program (LLP), which brings community college students to campus, are two examples of that commitment.
For more than 20 years, Leventhal has also partnered with the Academy of Finance (AOF).The AOF is a national educational program that introduces high school students to accounting, international trade, leadership and technology and allows them to earn college credit in preparation for college and careers in the financial. Established by the National Foundation Academy, the program is offered in more than 260 schools nationwide.
USC Leventhal Professor Robert Trezevant started the affiliation with AOF and voluntarily ran the program for 16 years until he passed away in 2015.
Associate Professor of Accounting SHIING-WU WANG came onboard with Trezevant in 1999 and took over directorship of the AOF program in 2015. Now, he and AssociateProfessor of Clinical Accounting SMRITY RANDHAWA teach in the program.
The students, from high schools near the USC campus, are typically seeking to become first-generation college students.
“This is a group of very motivated kids,” said Wang, who has been honored with four teaching awards at USC. “Sometimes, they don’t even have complete information about their future and what they can do, how they can achieve their full potential. They come to our school to learn, and we offer a scholarship to those who apply. This opportunity opens a brand-new world for them, to come to a top ranked school and achieve their full potential.”
Students take an undergraduate Marshall School of Business course for free, with the credits transferable in their senior year of high school. The class has two components: personal financial planning, taught by Wang, and basic accounting, taught by Randhawa.
The professional development portion of the program is extensive. The director of Marshall Admissions counsels students on the college admissions process, and the director of Undergraduate Studies gives instruction in writing and interviewing skills. In addition, Leventhal invites accounting professionals, who are also Leventhal alumni, to speak to the students.