page_title: University of Southern California
section_title: Spirit groups
hierarchical_section_title: University of Southern California / Traditions and student activities / Spirit groups
caption_attribution_description: English: The USC Song Girls take part in a celebration after a USC Trojan football victory over Nebraska. They are making the traditional USC Trojan "V"-for-victory hand sign.
context_page_description: The University of Southern California is a private research university in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in California. For the 2019–20 academic year, there were 20,500 students enrolled in four-year undergraduate programs, and 28,000 graduate and professional students in a number of programs, including business, law, film, engineering, occupational therapy, pharmacy, and medicine. USC is the largest private employer in the city of Los Angeles and generates $8 billion in economic impact on Los Angeles and California.
  USC was one of the earliest nodes on ARPANET and is the birthplace of the Domain Name System. Other technologies invented at USC include DNA computing, dynamic programming, image compression, VoIP, and antivirus software.
  USC's alumni include a total of 11 Rhodes Scholars and 12 Marshall Scholars. As of October 2018, nine Nobel laureates, six MacArthur Fellows, and one Turing Award winner have been affiliated with the university. As of May 2018, USC has conferred degrees upon 29 alumni who became billionaires.
caption: The Song Girls celebrating a USC Trojans football victory
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