Transfer Student Comes Into Her Own

But the Santa Barbara native was determined to give it her best shot. She’d long dreamed of attending USF, she said. An older half-brother lived in Oakland, and during one of her many visits, he brought her to a Hilltop tour.

“I just loved the city, I loved the campus, I knew it was where I wanted to be,” Hershman said.

After receiving a deferred acceptance letter, meaning she would arrive on campus in the spring instead of the fall, she committed to USF and got to work at home, attending Ventura City College to stay on top of credits. “I wanted to hit the ground running, in every way,” she said.

So, she was a little disappointed at first to not find a social groove immediately. Luckily, a chance encounter opened a door — literally. A student down the hall helped her use her OneCard to open the door to Hayes-Healy residence hall, and Hershman stepped through and never looked back.

The student who helped her open the door introduced Hershman to other students on her floor, and to a group of sorority sisters who encouraged her to rush that spring. (USF sororities do their recruiting in the spring semester, unlike many universities that rush in the fall.) Though Hershman ultimately decided to postpone joining a sorority during her first semester on the Hilltop, she followed through the next spring.

“I was shocked at how accessible and authentic all the girls were — after just three days of recruitment, they went out of their way to say hi to me on campus,” Hershman said. Her previous notion of what Greek life was turned on its head, she said, and she wound up joining Delta Zeta. “There is just such a deep sense of belonging, of community, of support. It’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to real sisters.”

Hershman said that the community she discovered within Delta Zeta inspired her to join other organizations. Sorority sister Anneteke Adoga recommended that she check out the ASUSF Senate. Hershman attended a meeting, found that it resonated with her, and became the first Greek representative to ASUSF.

Once there, Hershman’s first initiative was a resolution that would mandate that all new members of Greek organizations go through Title IX training. She hopes the measure will pass and go into effect in spring 2025.

In her work on the Title IX initiative with Katrina Garry, the school’s deputy Title IX coordinator, Hershman discovered an aptitude for the work. When the former student Title IX representative graduated and left her post, Hershman ran for the position. She was selected.

“Olivia is a fierce advocate for her fellow students — ensuring protections for students both on and off campus as they socialize with one another and explore the city,” Garry said.

Hershman, who now lives off campus with sorority sisters and has worked with Casa de Las Madres, a domestic violence shelter in San Francisco, and on the behavioral unit at St. Mary’s Hospital in pursuit of a psychology degree, said she is grateful that she persevered and pushed through the initial discomfort. “A whole new world opened up to me.”