Amanda Compadre
Amanda Compadre, a sophomore from Little Rock, Arkansas majoring in biology and minoring in Spanish and health promotions, puts her positive energy to use in a variety of extracurricular activities.
A special projects assistant for El Centro Chicano, Amanda helps put together a weekly e-newsletter and coordinate events that the department hosts, such as La Posada.
“Amanda is amazing – a real trailblazer” says William Vela, director of El Centro Chicano. “She has tremendous positive energy and whenever she takes on a project, she performs at 110 percent.”
In addition to El Centro Chicano, Amanda is involved with Chicanos for Health Education and Chicanos for Progressive Education, which arranges for low-income high school students to tour campus. As a peer health educator, she performs anonymous HIV testing on a rotating basis. Just this semester, Amanda added Trojan Health Volunteers to her long list of activities. She will spend four hours a week volunteering at a hospital, shadowing doctors and learning about the health care industry.
After she graduates in 2010, Amanda plans to attend medical school and will focus on primary care so she can have “one-on-one interaction with patients.” She is considering both Keck School of Medicine of USC and Washington University School of Medicine.
“There are a lot of great opportunities here at USC because of the size, reputation, location and alumni,” says Amanda. “And there’s a lot of diversity here compared with other universities.”