MVM NATION

🎬🏆 CONGRATULATIONS Ludwig Göransson — 3-Time Oscar Winner for Best Original Score!

A Swedish kid fell in love with blues through his father’s John Lee Ho**er record. That love brought him to USC Thornton School of Music in 2008. There he met Ryan Coogler — and instead of letting race or background divide them, Ludwig chose cooperation over separation.

That decision changed both of their lives forever. From Fruitvale Station to Black Panther to Sinners — every major Coogler film has carried Ludwig’s music.

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Started music as a child in Sweden — father was a musician; inspired by everything from classical to Metallica
USC Thornton School of Music — where he met Ryan Coogler & scored 30 student films in one year
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 💬 IN HIS OWN WORDS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ❝ The most important thing is to know music at a deep level across many genres. That knowledge is what gives you a voice no one else has. ❞ — Ludwig Göransson, Occidental College Music Production Program, December 5, 2017

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📖 MVM LESSON #17 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ That is not just a beautiful story — that is MVM Lesson #17 in real life. “Use your matriculation to build your own MVM Team, so when you graduate you can beat the machine.” Ludwig and Ryan did exactly that. They used their time at USC to find each other, build together, and graduate with a creative partnership already in place.

The lesson for every USC Film and Music major — and every student in the A.I. era — is this: learn the tools, but protect your voice, build your team, and create work the machine cannot replace.

Show up, collaborate boldly, and say yes to every opportunity. Student projects can become career-defining work.

🏆 Honor the MVM in YOUR life! 🛒 Shop MVM shirts → www.themvmnation.com

— Professor “A” | MVM NATION Most Valuable Major

Before we close out Women’s History month we want to recognize this MVM of film. 🎬 AUTUMN DURALD ARKAPAW — MVM of Film 🏆 Best Cinematography | Sinners | 98th Academy Awards

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🎨 BA in Art History — Loyola Marymount University (2002); a single film class screening Raging Bull changed everything
🏫 MFA in Cinematography — American Film Institute Conservatory (2009)
📷 Built her career through music videos (Rihanna, Arcade Fire), indie films & an Emmy nomination for Loki
🎬 First woman of color on the cover of American Cinematographer magazine
🏆 FIRST woman to win Best Cinematography in 97 years of Oscar history — and the 1st female DP to shoot on IMAX 65mm
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❝ Believe in yourself more than anyone else. If you have confidence in yourself and your ideas, you can achieve your goals. ❞

— Autumn Durald Arkapaw Interview with Panavision On breaking barriers in cinematography — 2025

💡 A liberal arts education + technical skill = limitless power. Her art history degree taught her to see film the way no one else could.

🎓 Honor the MVM in YOUR life! 👕 Shop MVM shirts → www.themvmnation.com

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🎬 RYAN COOGLER — MVM of Film
🏆 Best Original Screenplay | Sinners | 98th Academy Awards

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🎓 EDUCATION & JOURNEY
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🏈 Football scholarship → Saint Mary’s College of California, then Sacramento State
📊 BS in Finance, Sacramento State (2007) — while taking every film class available
🎓 MFA in Film, USC School of Cinematic Arts (2011)
🌟 Age 26: Fruitvale Station won Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Cannes Best First Film
🦁 Directed Black Panther — the first superhero film ever nominated for Best Picture

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🎥 FOR USC FILM MAJORS IN THE A.I. ERA
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For USC film majors worried about A.I., Ryan Coogler is a reminder that tools do not replace vision, authorship, or relationships. He built work so valuable that Sinners reportedly came with a rare Warner Bros. deal that returns the film’s rights to him after 25 years.

“Ryan Coogler built early with fellow USC student Ludwig Göransson and turned that creative bond into part of his future professional crew. That is one reason Ryan has already applied many of the 40 MVM Lessons — especially MVM Lesson #17: ‘Use your matriculation to build your own MVM Team, so when you graduate you can beat the machine.’ That is the lesson for USC Film majors in the A.I. era: learn the tools, but protect your voice, build your team, and create work the machine cannot replace.”
— Professor “A”

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💬 IN HIS OWN WORDS
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“If I can get two hours of people’s time, I can affect them more than throwing a trash can through a window.”

— Ryan Coogler
Filmmaker Magazine interview
On why he chose film over activism

💡 Your major doesn’t define your destiny. Follow the subject that sets you on fire — then master it.

🎓 Honor the MVM in YOUR life!
👕 Shop MVM shirts → www.themvmnation.com

FilmStudents

🎭 MICHAEL B. JORDAN — MVM of Theater 🏆 Best Actor | Sinners | 98th Academy Awards

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🏫 Newark Arts High School — specialized performing arts school, Newark, NJ
🎬 Professional actor by age 12 — roles on The Sopranos & The Wire in high school
📖 Built his “degree” through 20+ years of relentless craft, discipline & reinvention
🎭 1st actor since Lee Marvin to win Best Actor playing dual roles in the same film
🌍 Named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People (2020 & 2023)
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❝ Dream big, man. Be kind. Be honest. Pour into the universe and the universe will pour back into you. ❞

— Michael B. Jordan Backstage press room, 98th Academy Awards Dolby Theatre, Hollywood — March 15, 2026

💡 Bet on your gift. Find the environment that feeds your passion — then outwork everybody.

🎓 Honor the MVM in YOUR life! 👕 Shop MVM shirts → www.themvmnation.com

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Happy Birthday to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who we recognize as a Most Valuable Major (MVM) of Social Work (Honorary Level)!
Here are a few reasons why:

1944-Graduated from Booker T. Washington High School and was admitted to Morehouse College at age 15.
1948-Graduates from Morehouse College with a B.A. degree in Sociology.
1955-Received Doctorate of Philosophy in Systematic Theology from Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.

1995-Joins the bus boycott after Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1. On December 5, he is elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, making him the official spokesperson for the boycott.

1956-On November 13, the Supreme Court rules that bus segregation is illegal, ensuring victory for the boycott.

1957-King forms the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to fight segregation and achieve civil rights.

1958-King’s first book, Stride Toward Freedom, is published.

1963-On April 13, the Birmingham campaign is launched. This would prove to be the turning point in the war to end segregation in the South.

1963-During the eleven days he spent in jail, MLK writes his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

1963-On May 10, the Birmingham Agreement is announced. The stores, restaurants, and schools will be desegregated, hiring of blacks implemented, and charges dropped.

King attends the signing ceremony of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 at the White House on July 2.

1964-King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10. Dr. King is the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at age 35

1966-On January 22, King moves into a Chicago slum tenement to attract attention to the living condition of the poor.

1967-On November 27, King announces the inception of the Poor People’s Campaign focusing on jobs and freedom for the poor of all races.

1986-On November 2, a national holiday is proclaimed in King’s honor.

🎉 Happy Birthday to our Most Valuable Major (MVM) of Architecture! 🎉
Today we celebrate Jah-Meiré Shelton aka THE SHELTRIX — a visionary student architect who’s using his creativity to transform spaces and shape the future.

Currently earning his B.A. at the USC School of Architecture, Jah-Meiré brings imagination, precision, and leadership to everything he touches. From his time as an intern at Ibanez Shaw Architecture LLC to mastering tools like Rhino, 3D printing, and Adobe Creative Cloud, he’s proving that design isn’t just technical — it’s transformational.

Here’s the vow written across his back — and the blueprint of his purpose:

I will transform dreams...from behind the scenes
I will design projects...so ideas are expressed
I will draw visions...with style and precision
I will build walls...to protect us all
I will build fences...to prevent loss
I will build bridges...for us to cross
I will shape cities...every structure

Jah-Meiré is also a member of the Black Student Assembly, VP of the National Organization of Minority Students, and an emerging force in the future of architecture. He’s not just drafting plans — he’s drawing power from his passion.

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📌 P.S. The shirt he’s wearing is from our Most Valuable Major (MVM) collection — created for students and professionals who know that what they build matters. DM us if you’d like one for yourself or for a future architect who deserves to wear their major with pride.

Shout out to Ryan Coogler who was a former MVP in football that became a Most Valuable Major (MVM) in Film. 🏈🎬 He brought that same drive from the field to the classroom at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he enrolled in 2007 and earned his M.F.A. in 2011. While there, he met fellow Trojan and future Grammy-winning composer Ludwig Göransson, forming one of the most iconic director-composer duos in modern cinema. From Fruitvale Station to Black Panther and now Sinners, their creative partnership continues to shape the culture and break records. 💥🎓🐎 Coogler’s journey from athlete to award-winning filmmaker is Trojan excellence personified. 💼 Secured a historic deal/bag: paid upfront and retains ownership of the film rights after 25 years — a move that builds long-term wealth and creative control.

1. 📈 $175M+ global & rising
2. 💸 6% second-weekend drop — historic low
3. 🍅 98% on Rotten Tomatoes (audience score)
4. 🎥 #1 Black director with 4 films to pass $100M domestic
5. 🎞️ IMAX seats packed — extended by Warner Bros.
6. 🌎 Filmed in Clarksdale, MS — where there’s no theater
7. 🏗️ The film hit so hard, the town is building one now
8. 👷🏾‍♂️ That’s impact: Jobs. Ownership. Local revenue.
9. 📰 Variety tried to spin it:“Sinners has amassed $61M… but with a $90M price tag…”
10. 🔥 We lit our own match — and Sinners sparked a fire.

This is beyond box office.
This is Black brilliance.
This is Black economics.
This is how we win.

He has crossed over his doubters who said he was too old to win. He has dunked on all the haters that told him to shut up and dribble! He has become more than an athlete.....more than an entrepreneur.... and more than an activist. He is KING JAMES....The Chosen One!
Today is the birthday of a King and an Honorary Most Valuable Major (MVM) of Social Work. The Honorable, Lebron Raymone James. Some say he is the GOAT, but he is DEFINITELY the GOAT when it comes to active players who balance winning championships, winning in business, and saving lives.....SIMULTANEOUSLY!
On the court, he does it all with the ball. Off the court, he does it all... as a son, husband, father, business owner, brand endorser, producer, education advocate, activist, philanthropist Ohioan, role-model and King.
Last year he led the league in assists, but also leads all active basketball players in assists to society. According to dosomething.org, in 2018, he became the 6th Most Charitable Athlete in the World After Donating $42 Million For Young Kids. The Lebron James Family Foundation raises and donates money for several charities. In 2020, he became the first athlete to be named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year three times, when he was one of five athlete activists to receive this year’s honor.
In 2011, Mr. James was researching the high school dropout rate of his hometown Akron and decided to create the “I PROMISE” initiative, focused on supporting the youth in his childhood community. He helped opened I Promise public school in July of 2018 in hopes of expanding the LeBron James Family Foundation’s contribution to educational resources in Akron. The school offers: 1)Free Tuition. 2)Free Uniforms 3)Free Bicycle & Helmet 4) Free Transportation. 5) Free Breakfast, Lunch and Snacks 6) Food Pantry for Families 7) GEDs and Job Placement Services for Parents 8) The inaugural group of ‘I Promise’ students will receive four years of free tuition to Kent State. We hope to work with his foundation and his SpringHill Company to help students.

On his birthday we honor Mr. Daniel Farris AKA D Smoke as a Most Valuable Major (MVM) of Music and Spanish (Honorary and Professional levels).

During his matriculation at UCLA, he founded WoodWorks Records, and proceeded to write and produce, “Never”, earning an ASCAP Award - Song of The Year. Thus, he applied MVM Lesson #8 “Be great before you graduate”. Choosing a path less taken as a native English speaker, Smoke leaned into his love of language and storytelling, ultimately earning a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish Literature. Our paths crossed when he started working as a Spanish and music theory teacher at Inglewood High School.

In 2006, he started a songwriting group called WoodWorks with his brothers and his cousin Tiffany Gouché, who wrote songs for Ginuwine and The Pussycat Dolls, and is credited for co-writing “Never” by Jaheim. On May 9, 2006, he released his first album called Producer of the Year.

Smoke gained global notoriety in 2019 as champion and undisputed breakout star of Netflix’s Rhythm + Flow. Smoke showcased himself as a raw lyricist, classically trained musician, and cultural activist with “something to say” - and nothing left to prove. Smoke released Inglewood High EP in late 2019, revealing the beauty and frustration of today’s Inglewood, through the eyes of his former students and his younger self. The EP peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Rap Charts in several countries.

In February 2020, Smoke released Black Habits. The 16-track project boasts features from music legends Snoop Dogg and Jill Scott, as well as appearances from Ari Lennox, his brothers SiR and Davion Farris, and mother, Jackie Gouché. As a Black, Bilingual Rapper, Musician, and CEO, Smoke utilizes his lived experiences to create music and opportunities that bridge the cultural gaps seemingly present between Black and Brown communities, and the have and have-nots.

His journey from growing up as an at-risk student in Inglewood, working as a Black bilingual educator in Inglewood, and now a musician/star working with legends makes him most valuable. He is an inspiration for students, artists, and educators world-wide.