Gilchrist named a Most Promising Minority Student

By Chris Brown

Trevor Gilchrist has given his college path an international context rivaled by few. The senior advertising student has studied abroad a staggering four times: in Jamaica, Ireland, Denmark and China. "I have been able to apply all of that learning abroad back at home," he said. Gilchrist thrives on connecting with diverse cultures. With each new continent, he looks at audiences and assesses how he can communicate with them. He says he is "seeing the world one ad at a time."

Gilchrist's diverse multicultural experiences have not gone unnoticed. He was recently named a 2013 Most Promising Minority Student by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). The award recognizes the country's top multicultural advertising students by connecting them with leaders in the advertising industry.

Gilchrist, originally from Manhattan, knows what it is like to be recognized for his work abroad. He received a photojournalism scholarship in 2012 from the James Alan Cox Foundation to create a two-part documentary on his time studying in Ireland. While studying in Denmark, he had an internship filming interviews on diversity at his university in Copenhagen. His work embodies cultural diversity, which is an important component of a career in advertising.

"In order to reflect the diversity of the United States you really need to have ad agencies that are multicultural," advertising Professor Bonnie Drewniany says. Drewniany nominates multicultural USC students to the Most Promising Minority Student Program annually. Each year since the awards began 12 years ago, AAF has selected at least one of Drewniany's picks as a national finalist. When Drewniany met Gilchrist she knew he fit the bill. "I was delighted to learn about Trevor," she says. Though she never taught Gilchrist in class, Drewniany had other faculty members flocking to her office to recommend him for the honor. I was blown away by all of his accomplishments," she says. From his international studies to his portfolio of films, Drewniany admitted, "The average kid doesn't have that on their resume."

Gilchrist says his multicultural background also impressed many of his fellow honorees and many industry executives in attendance at the three-day conference in New York in February. He already has a number of calls from top agencies. This is exactly the goal of this program, according to Drewniany.

"By the end of it, these students not only have a connection with the industry, but also with each other," she says.

View a list of all previous winners from the USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications >