Betty Thai is a recent graduate. She double majored in East Asian Languages and Cultures as well as Political Science. She also received her Masters Studies of law at the same time as her Bachelors as part of the progressive degree program. In the fall she will be attending John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies to receive her Masters in International Relations as part of the Thomas R. Pickering Fellowship—a prestigious fellowship that will be funding her masters and allow her to be a diplomat for a minimum of five years.
During her time at USC, she was involved in Phi Alpha Delta (PAD) USC, the university’s only pre-law fraternity, where she was their former president. She described her impact at PAD USC as fundamental: “I focused on professionalism, managing day to day things, supporting members, active retention, and most importantly DEI.” She described her leadership style as valuing teamwork: To accomplish anything worthwhile, one cannot do it alone, but with the support and cooperation from those around her. The legacy she wanted to leave as president was that of “helping those that are not sure that law is for them and are too scared to admit it.” Despite her heavy involvement in the organization she decided the legal path was not her at least for the foreseeable future, which is why she wanted to leave this legacy.
Betty says that the great lesson she learned at USC was that: “’It is okay to not know what you’re doing. For all four years you can not know what you are doing as long as you reach out for help and take the initiative to solve the problem.” Some fun facts about her are that her favorite ice cream flavors are green matcha and coffee. Her dream job is to in some capacity be a formal bridge between the U.S. and China, whether that is working in a nonprofit or as the UN’s ambassador to China. Her advice to future Trojans is: “Take time to yourself. You do not have to work all the time. It is not the end of the world if you do not get an A on a paper even though we are told our value comes from these grades. Make sure to take care of your mental and physical health.”
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