The Pulse of Innovation

“I believe we're all more powerful than we know. Education should be the first chapter in unraveling our style, habits, and tendencies so we know how to harness our power.” Jenny Liu Zhang is fascinated by where people's skills and interests take them, and she's diving deep into educational systems to see how they can get us there more effectively. Come for her stories of childhood “retaliatory web design,” stay for her wisdom on education and self-awareness...

In the future, freshman Ivy hopes to create anything that has the same capacity of functionality, versatility, and potential for recreation as jazz. In her spotlight, she shares how she focuses on the things she is passionate about: illustration, animation, and Studio Ghibli...

"Don’t be afraid to try everything even if it doesn’t necessarily ‘align with your set path’ or if you think you are under-qualified — you’d be surprised as to how quickly your path and your goals change as soon as you try out new things and take yourself out of your comfort zone.”

Ever since the age of five, Ryan's been making unique creations. In his Academy Rapid Visualization course, he transformed a vintage perfume bottle into a flint lighter. Read how his creations are inspired by mechanical, authentic and vintage objects...

"Directing your own education allows learning to become fun.” Suraya is a self-motivated entrepreneur dedicated to helping others find relief from the stress of modern life. In this senior spotlight, Suraya talks about the product she's designing with her fellow Academy student, the value of collaboration and advice for incoming students...

A multigenerational team of eight Academy students, freshmen through graduate, was one of four teams selected internationally to be given the opportunity to co-create an experiential marketing activation for an adidas signature shoe, the Copa.

“People tend to recruit people who look like them,” said Barman, a senior at USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy. “My hypothesis is if we are able to create female founders, we are able to create more company cultures led by women and naturally help our diversity statistics.”

She started to think: “What if we tackled this at a younger generation — who will be the generation of female founders?”

"I want to learn from new research, and I think there should be a solution that makes said research easier to understand.” Love of science runs deep in Amanda Curtis, and she’s passionate about spreading that knowledge as widely as possible. In her spotlight, Curtis tells us how she’s making publications more accessible, offers advice on the best tacos near campus, and lists the essential gear she keeps on her to be prepared for every situation...

Whether jamming out or finding new spots to photograph the stars, Quinn Jones believes in keeping an open mind and making the most of opportunities when they present themselves. He’s an innovator who’s always looking for chances to learn something new.

When Monique Manaloto offers advice to freshmen, she offers two things: “Gain self-awareness, and be effortlessly in love with what you do.” As Manaloto prepares to graduate this spring, it is clear that she has taken her own advice. The Iovine and Young Academy senior’s enthusiasm for the fashion industry design shines through every word she says and writes about it—and that spark has caught attention far beyond the Academy itself: this winter, for the second year in a row, Monique Manaloto has won the YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund case study competition, one of only 200 recipients selected from applicants across 65 colleges and universities.

"Before you buy something, try making it yourself" is a motto that Casey lives by. He turns his watercolor paintings into stickers by first importing his paintings into Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator and transforms them into digital designs that he prints as custom, unique stickers...