TROJANS RECEIVE GOLDEN WISDOM
Olympian sprinter Allyson Felix tells graduates to `use your voice' during address
The latest crop of “Fight On!” success stories snagged their sheepskins in the sunshine Friday.
USC's 2022 commencement ceremony took place Friday at the Alumni Memorial Park, helping kick off graduation season in Southern California.
The USC graduates — 4,627 undergraduates and 7,989 graduate students — proudly walked on campus during a warm spring morning for the school's 139th commencement ceremony, picking up diplomas as more than 6,000 exuberant friends and family members looked on. Individual school ceremonies were scheduled to follow.
In-person ceremonies had been on hold during two years of pandemic, and the outdoor event welcomed “Pomp and Circumstance” back to the home of the Trojans. In the weeks ahead, graduation events will return to other campuses, auditoriums and football stadiums as in-person commencements are celebrated.
Alumna and Olympian
Allyson Felix delivered the commencement address. The L.A. native attended Los Angeles Baptist High School in North Hills before moving on to USC, setting records at both schools. The five-time Olympian has won 11 medals — seven gold, three silver and one bronze.
But she didn't just make headlines on the track. Felix, along with Alysia Montaño and Kara Goucher, drew attention to Nike's refusal to guarantee salary protections for its pregnant athletes.
“When I talk about my experience at Nike, what was more incredible and amazing to me was the community that supported me, that told me they experienced things that were similar to mine,” she said of her time employed by the sportswear giant. “I knew what I had to do. I knew I had to use my voice, but I was scared that my voice would shake.”
Felix said her daughter gave her the courage to speak up. Three weeks after she decided to write an opinion piece about the policy, she said, Nike was inspired to expand its maternity policy, in 2019.
“They did the right thing,” Felix said.
“I never hated Nike. I never thought they were bad. Their willingness to change their policy really reinforced that. I used my voice and change happened,” she said, encouraging graduates to find ways to use their own voices.
Felix launched her own footwear company, Saysh, in 2021 (and she pitched Friday's grads to consider applying to the “lifestyle brand for women”). She said among her proudest moments was when she realized that she was competing wearing a brand that she helped create.
“Remember: Your voice has power,” the Santa Clarita resident said. “You have to use your voice, even if it shakes. There are times when you will ask for change and there are times when you'll create it. Your life has purpose. So it's important to live a life of purpose.
“And I cannot wait to see the impact you'll all have on this world.”