University of California Los Angeles - Bruin Life / Southern Campus Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

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Above: Fourth-year communication studies student Heather Wemgart and second-year communication studies student LIndsey Olson help themselves to home- cooked food at a UCLA alumnus ' s house at SAA ' s Dinner for 12 strangers. Dinner for 12 Strangers helped Bruins get involved In the UCLA community by bringing current students, faculty and alumni together over dinner. Photographed by Michelle Wong. Left: Second-year undeclared student Shannon Degnan pauses before answering a question in a mock interview with second-year Iranian studies and psychology student Pardis Farhadian. At SAA ' s Interview With a Brum, students were given the opportunity to practice in mock interviews and receive pointers that would give them a competitive edge after graduation. Phutogidphed by miii Him ' The talents and the bands were great, but the thing that really swept [Spring Sing] away were the skits ... They were hilarious and very fitting. - Porog Sompat, second- yeor, undeclared student Above: Third-year sociology and global studies student Nabeela Virji and third-year anthropology student Bnttany Shen DeNovellls pose at an SAA Halloween party. Events such as the Halloween party were thrown every so often to reward students for their hard work for SAA. Photographed by Yong Kim. tin.

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.24 Alumni giving bacic For those who didn ' t feel as connected to the university, SAA allowed students to make UCLA their homes. Student Alumni Association, often known as SAA, is the student volunteer program that worked on behalf of the UCLA Alumni Association. Throughout the academic year, SAA planned numerous events to connect alumni, students and the university. These events included Blue and Gold Week, Dinner for 12 Strangers, Spring Sing and Interview With a Bruin. Each activity allowed students to interact with alumni to get a better perspective of what would come post-graduation. Blue and Gold Week, held prior to the highly anticipated UCLA vs. USC football game, was filled with activities for students to ignite school spirit in preparation for the match-up with their crosstown rival. After the loss last year, SAA had to work even harder to boost morale for both the students and the football team. The week was a success as the students ' energy strengthened and excitement mounted. As Maddi Akhter, a second- year political science student expressed, UCLA is a big school and I love participating in Blue and Gold Week activities because it feels as if the entire campus comes together to cheer on UCLA so we can beat SC. All week you see people wearing UCLA gear and doing the 8-clap and it all culminates in the big bonfire rally on Thursday night. Another well-known event was Dinner for 12 Strangers, in which students, faculty and fellow alumni attending a local alumnus ' s home to enjoy a home-made dinner in an effort to make UCLA a smaller, friendlier communitv. Held in the by Monica Nguyen middle of winter quarter. Dinner for 12 Strangers encouraged twelve strangers to become twelve friends by the end of dinner as they socialized and made connections with fellow Bruins. Through these interactions, students had the opportunity to feel more connected with the university. The next big event for SAA was Spring Sing, in which student competitors showcased their talent at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Spring Sing originally started off as fraternities serenading sorority sisters. In 1945, ASUCLA director William Ackerman decided to organize the first Spring Sing competition held at Royce Hall to see which singing group was the best. Though the competition was popular. Spring Sing became dormant for a decade until SAA decided to revitalize the tradition in 1978. Since then, SAA has kept the tradition of Spring Sing alive for all Bruins. Parag Sampat, a second-year undeclared student, commented, The talents and the bands were great, but the thing that really swept the show away were the skits that were put on in between. They were hilarious and very fitting! The final major SAA event of the year was Interview With a Bruin. This event allowed students to brush up on their interxiewing skills through mock trials with UCLA alunuii professionals. Students gained valuable knowledge to help them gain a ompetiti e edge in the real world. With the numerous events held on campus each year by the Student Alumni Association, students were able to feel more at home at UCLA, and truly form a Bruin family with the past, present and future. — i

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Royce Hall, h hdd e erything art lo ers wanted to sec, all under one magnificent roof, thanks to UCLA Li ' e. A uniquely avant-garde producer and presenter ofperforming arts, UCLA Live put together a year-long program of visual and performing arts that was presented at Royce Hall and -arious enues all over the UCLA campus for the viewing pleasures of both students and the general public. As an organization that prided itself on introducing both the newest experimental acts as well as the timeless classics, UCLA Live programs drew in theater-goers from all o er. As part of its mission to educate the commimity, UCLA Live sponsored the Student Committee for the Arts (SCA), the student offshoot of the program. SCA, composed of both undergraduate and graduate students, helped in both arts administration and the promotion ol UCLA Live events. Another program. Design for Sharing, was an outreach and education program that sponsored demonstration performances for children. These performances by world-class