With solely two weeks till commencement, whereas most USC seniors had been finding out for finals in and across the College Park Campus, Andrew Binder was making his manner alongside the Pennsylvania Turnpike to Quantico, Va., for some Marine Corps coaching.
Andrew Binder is one in all USC’s 2022 salutatorians. (Picture/Courtesy of Andrew Binder)
Binder understands this isn’t the standard expertise of a school senior simply earlier than commencement, however given his path to USC, “typical” in all probability wasn’t within the playing cards. However whatever the monitor that introduced this East Coaster to sunny Southern California, the outcome speaks for itself: Binder earned his bachelor’s diploma in philosophy, politics and regulation from the USC Dornsife Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and was named one of many salutatorians for the Class of 2022.
“I graduated and was commissioned as a second lieutenant within the Marines, and the journey to get there was very difficult,” Binder stated by telephone from a grocery retailer parking zone in Pennsylvania. “I’m terribly grateful for the individuals who helped alongside the way in which, as a result of there’s no manner I’d have gotten to commencement and commissioning and thru all of those completely different experiences with out the assistance of my mentors, my household, my associates, my professors and the individuals who saved the college operating earlier than COVID and in the course of the pandemic.”
Rising up within the small city of Chadds Ford, Pa. — “midway between Philadelphia and Amish nation,” he stated — Binder had by no means actually heard or thought of USC till his senior yr in highschool. A scholar within the grade above him had been accepted to USC, and out of curiosity, Binder determined to do some analysis into the college.
College ‘nice possibility’ for 2022 USC salutatorian
“I assumed that the college was terribly nicely rounded,” he stated. “It was an important choice to discover my passions — for political science, for philosophy, for neighborhood service and for having an excellent time.”
Binder utilized and was granted an interview, however he missed the sign-up for the Philadelphia spherical. He had a political convention in Washington, D.C., and seen that USC was holding interviews there, so the highschool senior hopped on a practice to the capital — full go well with and all — to speak about how USC match into his hopes and desires. As somebody who had grow to be politically energetic from an early age — volunteering with the Chadds Ford Democratic Committee in highschool — Binder thought of finding out political science.
“I wouldn’t say I grew up in a household that was very concerned in politics, however I’d say that politics was concerned in my household,” Binder stated. “My household is Jewish, and just about the entire members of my household fled from anti-Semitic violence.”
One facet of Binder’s household fled Russia within the early 20th century, and the opposite facet fled Europe throughout World Conflict II earlier than relocating to Colombia, the place they needed to flee one other oppressive regime.
“My grandmother impressed me to a sure extent to be concerned in politics as a result of she was concerned in politics at a really younger age in Colombia, talking out towards a dictatorial regime on the time,” he stated. “They stood up for what they believed in as a result of it was the best factor to do by her fellow Colombians and for her neighborhood, and so I used to be simply very impressed by that story … to offer a voice to these individuals who had been most deprived, or to do what I may to make a distinction and transfer the ball ahead in direction of justice.”
Nonetheless, he wasn’t solely positive that he needed to check politics in faculty, however he jokes that his first interview with USC sparked that path. In the course of the interview he was requested to offer his ideas on a really divisive subject — the long-standing East Coast vs. West Coast debate: Shake Shack or In-N-Out?
2022 USC salutatorian: Demonstrating a knack for politics
“I stated I favored the milkshakes from Shake Shack, however I actually favored the burgers from In-N-Out,” Binder stated with amusing. “And the interviewer smiled and stated that I’d do nicely in poli sci at USC.”
Upon his arrival at USC, Binder threw himself into a number of organizations. He joined ROTC and the Los Angeles County Bar Affiliation’s Veterans Authorized Companies Challenge, the place he helped homeless veterans who had been experiencing authorized troubles.
“It was my job to learn by means of 800 pages of California code and discover a technique to help them as a result of these had been kind of the instances that weren’t necessary sufficient to be assigned a public defender,” Binder stated.
He later grew to become energetic with USC Dornsife’s Middle for the Political Future, VoteSC, Trojan Democrats (the place he finally grew to become president of the group) and The Civics Middle, a nonprofit that helps highschool seniors register to vote as they flip 18. Binder and his crew despatched out roughly 100,000 voter registration postcards to college students throughout the nation forward of the 2020 elections.
“It was tremendous inspiring to see how unsuitable the stereotype about my technology is,” Binder stated. “By that work, I met a whole bunch of scholars who had been terribly passionate in regards to the points they face and making them higher for once they hand them off to the following technology.”
As with the remainder of his fellow graduates within the Class of 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic principally upended the center of his faculty profession. Binder moved in together with his mother and father — who now stay in Scottsdale, Ariz. — for the remainder of the spring 2020 semester however moved again into his condo close to campus in spring 2021. As he appears to be like again at his expertise in the course of the pandemic, he does see some positives.
Our class was terribly fortunate to have each an in-person freshman and senior yr.
Andrew Binder, 2022 USC salutatorian
“Our class was terribly fortunate to have each an in-person freshman and senior yr,” he stated. “For me, the pandemic was a actuality examine about why we do what we do, and the rationale I say that’s as a result of in the course of the pandemic we noticed a whole lot of struggling, however we additionally noticed a whole lot of unity and a whole lot of neighbors serving to neighbors.”
Binder shall be within the Marines for a minimum of the following 4 years, however past that, he simply hopes to convey that perspective of “neighbors serving to neighbors” to every thing he does.
“My aim with the Marines is to take advantage of it and to be as useful as attainable in service to the nation,” Binder stated. “Previous that, I’ve an concept of what I need to do, however I’ll be simply as comfortable wherever they want me essentially the most — hopefully regulation faculty, however nonetheless a lifelong dedication to neighborhood service.”
Extra tales about: Awards, Graduation 2022, College students
