Marshall Demirjian was ready to skip college until he heard about the Academy from a high school colleague. Fast forward four years, Demirjian has learned to throw rubrics and expectations aside to pursue his passions full force and play the long game. 

Tell me a little bit about your journey to the Academy?

One day in high school I was sitting in math class complaining to my friend about college options, "If it was up to me I'd skip the whole thing." As I was ranting, a guy in the year above me who I had never spoken to before whips around in his seat and goes, "Have you heard of the Iovine and Young Academy?" That guy was Wells Douraghy and he had just received his IYA acceptance letter. A year later I was anxiously awaiting my acceptance letter, but weeks passed with no luck. I had just come to terms with not getting into IYA when during a completely unrelated event I was scrolling back in my emails to get a file for a class and I saw an unopened email from over 20 days ago. In typical fashion I had missed my acceptance email and put myself through three weeks of torture.

What piece of advice have you implemented in your day to day life?

Do you have a role model? Why do you look up to them?

Johnny Knoxville — he's the ultimate example of raw passion, commitment, freedom, and fun.

Describe one thing most people don’t know about you?

I've been playing classical piano my whole life. I'm an Eagle Scout, and I love SCUBA.

What’s one thing your parents taught you that you’d like to share?

I always got into trouble in elementary/middle school. My mom tried to teach me to fly under the radar. It was in vain. Sorry Mom!

What is the biggest risk you have taken?  Was the result what you wished for?

For the majority of my life I've invested in learning to program, but I made the decision to come to IYA and start my own company rather than study computer science and work for a corporation. It has certainly made my career path more of a rocky road and I haven't experienced the full effects of it yet, but I know I'll never regret it. 

The biggest risk in my life I do regret is shaving my head completely bald for quarantine. I looked horrible.

What would you say is your defining achievement thus far?

Playing the long game. So many kids shape their work and passions around being able to answer this kind of question on a resume or at Thanksgiving with relatives. My greatest accomplishment so far is focusing on things that matter and ignoring short term marketability. 

Pick one project at any given moment, commit 110% and go way overboard. Especially at IYA, in order to get the full value out of classes you have to take the extra step. Most importantly, you need to goof off as hard as you possibly can. It's freshman year - have fun. ALSO if you want to live in a house near USC you need to be doing that August/September the year before.

How have you evolved over the past four years?

I used to be focused on rubrics and completing projects to perfectly match the expectations of the assignment. I was given wise advice my sophomore year to ignore [rubrics] and instead go in a passion direction: just go as hard as possible with no fear of total failure in the end. Since then, I've done exactly this and it has led to my greatest, most fun and most constructive experiences at college.  

I'm currently building a game studio and hoping to make a living off it by the end of the year. For the first few years out of college I intend to move around the world staying in new locations for a few months at a time and working remotely.

What inspires you?
A well-executed, cut-to-black at the end of a film. Also Disney World rides for some reason.

Favorite class at USC and why?
Disruptive Innovation previously taught by Steve Barth. I'm sure the current professor also does a good job but that class was the most defining and eye-opening experience in my life. Also I've never had a bad two-unit class — they are almost always taught by super experienced professors that get to teach their passion unrestricted by curriculum. 

What is your favorite hidden gem of LA?
Red Lion Tavern

If you had to get a tattoo what would you get and why?
USC President Carol Folt's name written in cursive inside of a heart with a cupid's arrow going through it.

As a freshman, a fellow student told Marshall Demirjian was told to approach his school assignments by picking a passion and going “as hard as possible on it.” Since then, the now-senior at the Academy has applied that advice to many facets of his life.

Senior Spotlight: Marshall Demirjian