Growing up a half a mile from the University Park campus, Enzo Luna had many opportunities to get to know USC. The earliest trip he recalls was in elementary school, when his class visited one of USC’s science labs, and he was able to view cancer cells through a microscope. Later, during his junior year of high school at New Designs Charter near campus, students from USC Thornton School of Music visited his school as part of a volunteer music program. It was during these lessons that Luna was able to grasp a deeper understanding of music and his favorite instrument: the guitar.
Learning an instrument inspired Luna to learn more about the world of music. “I started reading Rolling Stone stories and became interested in writing these types of articles myself,” he said. “I wanted to have a deeper understanding of who the people were that I was listening to.” During his senior year of high school, he would travel to USC’s campus, where USC Thornton students would continue his guitar lessons — and he would continue educating himself about music journalism.
“I learned that music is oftentimes political and how that could be important,” he said. “And I really wanted to be a part of that, so that’s where my mind was before heading off to college.”
A first-generation college student, Luna started his collegiate journey at California State University, Los Angeles as a communication major, but he still had USC on his radar. He applied to USC in his freshman year but didn’t get accepted. He continued working hard, kept his grades up, and applied again in his sophomore year. Luna, having been awarded the Wells Cisneros Scholarship will be joining the Trojan Family this Fall as a journalism major.
For Luna, his love of storytelling was inspired by his mother. “During my childhood, my mom would tell us bedtime stories about her life in Honduras, and that’s what started my interest in stories and storytelling,” he said. “I’m interested in how you construct a story from words and their endless combinations, how you can move people with writing.”
Visiting USC Annenberg, Luna was struck by the opportunities available through the media center in Wallis Annenberg Hall. His hope is that while working there, he’ll be able to write stories that amplify the creative voices in low-income and minority communities “because they have creative potential and great ideas that should be shown to the world,” he said.
The intersection of fashion and music also interests Luna. “I see music being connected with fashion, because a lot of artists are into many artistic avenues,” he said. “I’m interested in how clothing inspires music. For example, Jimi Hendrix, his clothing is iconic, and I can see how that may have inspired his music too. I want to explore what that means.”
Luna is also looking forward to taking advantage of internships and trying his hand at sports journalism. “I knew Annenberg would really push my career after graduation into a great position,” he said.