T.O. student at USC gets a summer grant

Stephanie Cirone, a native of Thousand Oaks and a student at USC Gould School of Law, has been awarded a grant to pursue public interest legal work this summer. She'll be working with the public defender in New Orleans.

She received the $6,500 grant from the USC Public Interest Law Foundation, a student-run nonprofit organization that promotes social justice lawyering. The group annually awards about 24 competitive grants to supplement the incomes of first- and second-year students who choose to spend their summers working in public interest rather than at a law firm.

Cirone has spent two spring breaks performing pro bono legal work in the Gulf Coast region.

"This grant helps me continue to pursue justice for all those affected by the hurricanes in recent years," said Citrone.

She received her bachelor's degree from UCLA.