1. Their motto is “palmam qui meruit ferat, let he who merited the palm bear it,” meaning “achievement should be rewarded.”

 2. When the University of Southern California was founded in 1880, the University employed 10 faculty members and welcomed a class of 53 students. Tuition for the first year was only $15.00 per semester, and students were not allowed to leave town without the knowledge and consent of the university president. 

 3. The first USC valedictorian was a woman, Minnie C. Miltimore, for the class of 1884.

 4. The southwest corner of the Pueblo of Los Angeles is part of the original land grant given by the King of Spain in 1781. That can still be found today at the corner of Figueroa Street and Exposition Boulevard. 

 5. USC is the only university in the world to have a gold medal-winning athlete in every summer Olympiad since 1912. (Similar: USC has produced more Olympians, Olympic medalists, and Olympic gold medalists than any other U.S. university.)

 6. The Trojan Marching Band is the only collegiate marching band in the U.S. that has earned a platinum record — two actually.

 7. There has been some debate to which school claims the title as the real USC – University of South Carolina or University of Southern California

 8. USC is the oldest private research university in California.

 9. Although not located in tech-central Silicon Valley, USC was actually one of the earliest nodes on ARPANET and is the birthplace of the Domain Name System (DNS)

 10. To learn more about USC, follow them on social media such as Twitter, Instagram, or check out their Podcast