Story #27: Abhinay Jhaveri

This week’s story is that of friendship, family, and a sense of belonging – it’s the story of Abhinay Jhaveri (’10) who is still in touch with many of his JEP friends, even over a decade after he left campus and moved across the globe a couple of times.

As we were meeting via zoom at 7am to accomodate the time difference between India and the West Coast, Abhinay started out chat sharing “some of the best things that happened to me at USC was at JEP.” He started his JEP journey during his Freshman year in 2006 when he got to be a French tutor as part of one of his classes. Shortly after, he applied to be a Program Assistant and got accepted to oversee the students that were following in his footsteps. And even though Abhinay left JEP during his Junior year to study abroad, he was eager to come back for his final year.

“What I always found to be unique about JEP was the sense of community that just naturally built even though we are very diverse – we had PAs from so many different majors or even schools, and yet we all had that common passion. Those similar values really helped us bond. And, I guess, having the house to just stop by and chat with people helped a lot as well. I actually spend so much time there just between classes, helping out or just meeting my fellow program assistants. I know everyone thinks it might sound a little chliché but it really did feel like a home away from home.”

And Abhinay is one of the many alumni who come “back home” eventually and stop by the house. Just recently during the final weeks of the Spring 2022 semester, Abhinay stopped by during one of his trips to the US. But he doesn’t only stay in touch with the JEP staff, he is also still connected with his former student staff coworkers, “After I graduated from USC, we first stayed in touch through Facebook and Instagram, but we also have met up a couple of time since. I mean everyone’s living all over the place but we still see each other at weddings and other big events. I mean, someone just got married in Tuscany, I’ve met up with some people in Chicago, back in Calforniam and pretty much anywhere I go. If I know some of my JEP family is close, I’ll reach out. And we definitely stay in touch digitally, still, as well.”

We hope that our upcoming alumni picnic, the gala, our open house, and the homecoming game event with JEP will be another opportunity to reunite all the people that come together through JEP, like Abhinay and his cohort, and we cannot wait to see so many other familiar faces there, as well.