I spent a good chunk of my day on Saturday talking to potential freshmen at a fair for newly admitted students. When I spoke to the incoming science students about applying for [Program], I always highlighted the impact on grades, retention in the sciences and participation rates in undergraduate research programs. The students would nod, probably overwhelmed with all the information and opportunities they’d learned about. The students perked up when I introduced them to current students and alumni helping us outreach. “How did [Program] benefit you?” I asked one of the volunteers.

All 10 students who volunteered throughout the day answered the same. It wasn’t grades and research was secondary even though they’re all in labs and some are going on to grad school in the fall. Nope, they all stressed the great friendships they developed with other [Program] students.

I love working with [Program], but at this point I don’t expect many surprises. Each year we do the same thing, it’s just a different set of students. I was wrong. I know our students develop friendships in the program. That makes sense since they spend several hours a week together and have a lot in common. We measure a lot of things and evaluate all aspects of the programs, but I don’t recall ever asking about friendships developed through [Program]. The researcher in me wants to study this and interview our students. The student affairs practitioner in me feels like we’re doing something right.

When I first started at UCLA, the tour guides who worked with the orientation program told us that the Bomb Shelter used to actually be a bomb shelter at the height of the Cold War. Of course, it was located in the Court of Sciences near the engineering and science departments because in case of a nuclear attack, it’d be more important to save and engineering or physics professor than one in the humanities or arts. After the Cold War, it was converted in to an eatery with different food options for students. Something like that. Freshman orientation was a long time ago.

The myths about buildings and campus landmarks were all intended to get us to better remember the campus.

The Bomb Shelter was razed a few years ago to make way for a snazzy new Court of Sciences Student Center. The LEED certified building opened up a couple of months ago. I walk by often, but hadn’t actually checked it out since I always bring my own lunch.

I still haven’t visited any of the new eateries or been in the building, but I like the outdoor changes. The grassy rooftop might become my go-to spot when I need to get out of the office after staring at the computer too long or freezing with the always-too-cold AC. I like the nearby botanical garden too, but that area is shaded and sometimes I want to sit in the sun.

Sometimes I get tired of being at UCLA forever (only have myself to blame on this one). Other days, I appreciate that being around a long time lets me see the changes. Yesterday was one of those days.

I’m slow when it comes to recapping weekends, vacations and fun days with the family. It’s worse if I have to upload and edit pictures. I know some bloggers do this daily and even recap each day of their vacation, but I can’t do that.

After being back at work for a couple of days, I’d like to go back and relive the long weekend — except for that part on Saturday night when the UCLA football team forgot to show up at the Coliseum. Yikes.

Other than Saturday night, the long weekend was filled with good times.

Sean and I kicked it off by watching The Muppets on Wednesday evening. We both loved it as did the rest of the audience in the theater. I plan to see it again soon. I’m pretty sure I missed some cameos and jokes because I was laughing too much (manically, of course). I’d also like to learn some of the original songs and add them to my karaoke go-to song list.

After for going for a sunny mid-day run on Thursday, I headed over with Sean to my madrina’s house in East LA. Madrina Chilo always hosts Thanksgiving and other family members bring sides and desserts. By the time Sean and I arrived a little after 3 with our sweet potato casserole, most of the family had already eaten. I’d barely eaten in the morning so, I couldn’t be bothered to photograph my first plate. After scarfing down turkey, ham and lots of carby sides — stuffing! mac and cheese! — we retired to a spare bedroom with the rest of the cousins.

We played Imagine If and Last Word, took silly photos, and tried to keep baby Minel from stealing our cell phones. I liked the Last Word. It’s an easy game to set up and play with several people. It also made us laugh a lot as we tried to think up words that went along with the category (e.g. things in a purse) that started with the designate letter. Before everyone went home, we also picked names for the big family Christmas gift exchange.

I hope Sean enjoyed his first Thanksgiving with my family, even if he didn’t get his usual turkey leg… at least not initially. I luckily was in the kitchen just as Madrina Chilo was carving the second turkey and asked for the turkey leg to take home with my other leftovers. Yes, I brought my own tupperware.

I didn’t do any late night shopping on Thursday or hit the stores for deals on Friday and attempted to make some pumpkin pie. It didn’t work out well, but redeemed ourselves with some brownies. Instead, we ate leftovers, watched movies (Drive and The Muppets Take Manhattan) and were lazy.

Saturday was another chill day. I supported some small businesses (local nail salon for a pedicure, tacos from a local restaurant). I didn’t watch the USC/UCLA game since I don’t have cable. Instead I just got ESPN updates with each scoring play. A 50-0 loss sucks, but I wasn’t terribly disappointed or embarrassed. I’m not the one on the field or sidelines. Nor am I the one hiring and recruiting the coaches and students involved with the football program. There are many other reasons to be embarrassed and ashamed by college football programs and your alma mater than losing in a blowout to your rival.

At the end of the game, I thought of the UCLA marching band’s post-game ritual. I was in the band during my first two years, it was fun, but time consuming during football season. After each game, we’d play the alma mater, “Hail to the Hills of Westwood” on the sidelines. If we won the game, we’d play and sing a silly song called “Rover.” Then we’d change out of our uniforms and get back on the bus to Westwood. As our buses traveled the final few blocks in to campus, we’d sing the alma mater a second time. I miss those moments and wanted to sing the alma mater again even if it wouldn’t be followed with “Rover.” Maybe when I finally graduate, I’ll audition to be the singer at the ed school ceremony. That would be cool.

Earlier today, I was making fun of the Berkeley College Republicans on Twitter:

“I’m surprised college Republican groups are still doing the pay by race bake sale thing. That’s so 2000. I think they’d be more original.”

A few minutes later I added a link to the cartoon Lalo Alcaraz (above) published after the UCLA Bruin Republicans held a pay by race bake sale in 2003. I’m not sure you can actually call it a bake sale since they sold Oreos, Twinkies and crackers. Heavy handed with the symbolism much? Fellow UCLA alumni told me the bake sale was also done in the mid 1990s.

I wasn’t offended by the bake sale. Instead, I was surprised they were getting so much attention. Must be a slow news week, huh? Plus, these students could barely read when race conscious admissions were banned in 1995 and 1996 (first by the Regents of the University of California and then by the California electorate). SP-1 and Proposition 209 probably mean nothing to today’s freshman, born in 1993. My politics and education were shaped by those policies.

In the spring of 1998, I was part of the first class admitted under the new race-neutral admissions policies at the University of California. As I made my decision about which UC campus to attend, Berkeley or Los Angeles, I read about the severe drop (up to 50% for some groups at UC Berkeley and UCLA) in the LA Times. I didn’t get in to UC San Diego and wondered if I would have been admitted to San Diego under the old policies. When I toured UCLA and Berkeley with my parents, I noticed students protesting the effects of Proposition 209, a severe drop in the numbers of underrepresented minorities admitted. In the fall when I began classes at UCLA, I was well aware that my freshman class was much less black, Latino and American Indian than previous classes.

In the next few years, I got involved with student groups actively working on diversity issues and admissions reform. I continued my involvement as a doctoral student in higher education. I spent a couple of years on the board of the UC Student Association and lobbied California legislators on bills related to higher education access and affordability. I researched and wrote about admissions practices at UC campuses, attended weekly meetings of black alumni and community leaders pressing for admissions reform at UCLA, and was the graduate student representative on the systemwide Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools. I was definitely plugged in to admissions and diversity issues at UC.

Yet despite my years of activism, research, and lobbying, I hadn’t heard about SB 185. The bill, introduced by Senator Ed Hernandez would allow California’s public universities “to consider race, gender, ethnicity, and national origin, along with other relevant factors, in undergraduate and graduate admissions.” (Source)

I’m thankful the Berkeley Republicans recycled the bake sale. If not for them, I’d still be out of the loop. Now I can email Governor Jerry Brown encouraging him to sign SB 185 and encourage my friends to do the same.

This relay with my ed school people is gonna kick my ass. I’m not a sprinter.

That’s what I tweeted after the first practice with my relay team five weeks ago. I don’t have even a fraction of the speed of some other really fast Mexicans like Leonel Manzano and Ana Guevara. The other women on my team, Ashley and Tanya easily outran me. And of course I was slower than Marc, the one guy on our team. I didn’t feel too good about my chances of running a relay and not making a fool of myself.

Still, I didn’t back out. I liked my speed workouts on the track. At the practices, we did a mix of workouts: sprints of varying distances with recovery jogs or walks; hills; running the stadium stairs; and practiced passing the baton. We even got some unsolicited advice from a man training at professional level on how the “pros” pass the baton.

As I tried my best to become speedier, I also got to know my team, T-MAC. They reminded me of what it was like to be a first or second year in the program and prepare for exams. They were also pretty cool and I’m glad I got to know them. The race was definitely a good way to build community within the program.

The relay was held this afternoon at UCLA’s Drake Stadium track. When I arrived after work, a bunch of HEOC folks were already out to watch the competition between T-MAC (in purple t-shirts) and the Bees Knees (in yellow, of course).

The race was fun and challenging. The lineup:

T-MAC:
Ashley
Tanya
Cindy
Marc

Bees Knees:
Hannah
Gina
Dayna
Chris

Our first two runners would be slower than their first two. We knew this going in to the race. Marc reminded me before we started that we’d behind when Tanya passed off the baton and my job was to catch Dayna. Ashely and Tanya gave it their all. Tanya is slower than Gina, but she kept pace with her so we didn’t lose ground there. Still, we were behind and once Tanya passed the baton to me I had a lot of ground to make up. I tried to catch Dayna, but never did. I did close the substantial gap and was a few steps behind her when I passed off the baton to Marc. The last leg between Marc and Chris was the closest. They were pretty well matched in speed, but Marc couldn’t make up Chris’ small lead. Bees Knees won by a couple of seconds making for a pretty exciting finish.

I was a little bummed about the loss and that I couldn’t catch Dayna. From the photo timestamps, she had about a 17 second lead. I know I could have started faster and pushed harder. I’m more bummed that we didn’t time our splits. I’m pretty sure we all ran faster than we did in practice.

After the race, we were awarded silver beads. The Bees Knees got gold. Then we went off to enjoy a free happy hour and greasy bar food in Westwood. Fun times.

I’m still no sprinter, but at least I didn’t make a fool of myself out there. Now, back to long and easy runs with occasional speed work at the track.

Jorge, a junior, was one of our rising stars. Along with several other students, he was presenting his research at a national conference in Anaheim. Marta, who lived locally, attended the community day portion of the conference on the final day.

I got to Jorge’s poster first. Rather than talk about his research, which I wouldn’t understand anyway, we discussed his experience at the conference. His mother stopped by mid-conversation. He introduced us before turning to the woman who was there to judge his poster.

I had a short conversation with Marta. I learned she was from Guadalajara and had a couple other children who looked up to Jorge.

“You must be proud of him,” I said in Spanish.

She replied enthusiastically, and then confided that she wasn’t sure what she did to get her son to UCLA. Even her family wanted to know her secret.

“¿Qué le diste de comer?”^[2] they’d ask.

I smiled at the thought of Marta feeding Jorge a heaping plate of talent for math and science coupled with a tall glass of ganas.

I admitted to Marta that I was also the child of Mexican immigrants and a first generation college student. In my pocha Spanish, I tried to convey what my parents “fed” me. I didn’t tell her that she reminded me of my father in her humility over the role she played in her son’s academic success.

In February, I interviewed my dad about his “little life” and family. Toward the end of the interview, he asked a question:

You always had a tremendous amount of drive, and you started at a very, very, very young age, setting goals and setting your expectations very, very high. And it’s always something that I’ve admired very much about you. Of what you’ve done and what you’ve been able to accomplish, and the responsibility and the woman you’ve become. Um, where did it begin? Where did it start?

I paused for a moment before answering, “I don’t know.” And then I couldn’t be shut up as I rambled about my desire to make him and mom proud, my curiosity and love of learning, being tracked in to the gifted and talented program, and going to school in a somewhat competitive environment with other college-going kids. Somewhere in there, I finally brought up him and mom.

I thought, ‘wow, my dad’s exceptional. That’s the family I come from.’ … You and mom also made it very possible for to meet my goals. I’ve never thought it was just something that came from me. I did my homework, but you and mom set up that environment for me. You and mom took me to places, you gave us the tools to you know, fly (to be cheesy). You took me, you took a Saturday off to bring me to UCLA or to go take my SAT at Whittier College. I think, you know, in the end it says my name on my degree. It’s gonna say my name, but, I think that last name is really what matters… Whenever I see my accomplishments, I see them in this context, that I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish them without all the support I’ve always had from my family.

I really don’t know what Marta did to support Jorge, but I’m pretty sure she was like my own exceptional parents who made it possible for me to reach my goals.

Notes:
^^[1] Marta and Jorge are pseudonyms
^^[2] Translation: what did you feed him?

Anyway, this message from Danny Oso’s little brother, Eddie, makes me a bit more excited about get out the vote efforts and the upcoming election. Danny writes:

My little brother wanted to get involved with the midterm elections. I ony helped him with some facts and editing the video. He wrote and drew everything himself. Please make sure you vote!

If you’re not yet registered, go here. The registration deadline is coming up!

I’m going to get back in to danza.

I attended the SACNAS conference in Anaheim. I was there primarily for Job2 in which I do research on undergraduate and graduate students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Students and co-workers from Job1 were there too and it was a nice opportunity to get to know them better even though I’ve known some of them for 4+ years now. I really enjoyed the conference and it made me even more excited for my dissertation.

The conference ends with a pow wow open to conference attendees as well as the public. Even though I was tired from a long day of traipsing around the Anaheim Convention Center and learning more about STEM education (in practice), I decided to stay. I like pow wows. I love the dancing, drumming, beautiful and intricate regalia, the representation of a rich cultural tradition and an opportunity to buy all kinds of beautiful jewelry.

I had the most fun at this pow wow, even though there were no frybread vendors, because I joined in on the dancing. I even tried to do what I remembered from my danza days during the intertribal.

It’s the last week of August which means (a) students all around the country are beginning the fall term or getting ready to, (b) all my friends who teach and work at colleges are lamenting the end of summer, and (c) most importantly, my birthday is right around the corner.

This also means I’m almost done meeting 100+ freshmen and getting them prepared for the fall quarter which begins in a month. My summer won’t be officially over until then, but I don’t feel like it ever really started as summers tend to be busier than the fall, winter and spring terms. (And I’m swamped with my own academic work… yeah, I’m still working on that PhD.)

Since I think I’ve learned something after 6 years of working with hundreds of college freshmen, I thought I’d impart a little advice.

1. Ditch the cutesy email address, e.g., xxbabygurl23xx@blahblah.com when it comes to your official school contact info. Your professors and staff can see this on class rosters. Replace it with something simple like firstname.lastname@school.edu or your first initial followed by your last name. I laugh at students’ emails all the time and so do my co-workers.

2. Make sure your financial aid is squared away. Ask lots of questions of financial aid staff even if it feels like you’re bugging them. You don’t want to find out two weeks later that you’re 1 unit/credit short of qualifying for a Pell Grant or something.

3. Tell your parents to back off. It happens every year. I get emails and calls from parents trying to plan their child’s courses. I know you’re barely an adult, but you need to start becoming independent at some point. If you let your mom or dad intervene on your behalf, you’ll (a) never learn how to do this yourself and (b) annoy staff members.

4. Immediately go through all your syllabi and find the days exams will be held or you’re required to turn in a paper. Include these all in your planner.

5. Oh yeah, get a planner and check out time management workshops.

6. If you live on campus, get to know your RA. In a bind, he/she can really help you.

7. Whenever you stop by to see a professor, counselor or other staff member introduce yourself. I can’t count how many times students call me and start explaining their problem. My first questions is always, “what’s your name?” I can’t help you unless I know your name.

8. Avoid skipping class. Education is expensive and every class you skip, you’re missing out on a valuable piece of your education. And future you (if you have loans)/your parents/the taxpayers funding your grants are just wasting their money if you don’t go.

9. There’s no such thing as an easy A course. You’re in college. Those courses are all planned by faculty who spent a lot of time crafting this class and making sure it meets minimum standards. If it’s 4 units, expect to spent 4 hours per unit/per week studying for that class.

10. Don’t rely solely on friends for info on regulations or graduation requirements. Go to a counselor, they’re well versed in these regulations and can often approve exceptions, if needed. You can also get important info from your departmental counselor on which term would be best to take a required course. This can help you stay on track and graduate in a timely manner. It amazes me how few students don’t take advantage of counselors until it’s too late.

Y de pilón, be nice to your grad student TAs who do a big chunk of the teaching and grade most of your work. I’ve never TA’ed. I know some people have great experiences and others hate it, mainly because of the entitled students.

Feel free to add your own about other aspects of college life. I didn’t even get into getting involved on campus or managing your academic/social life, or even managing your family’s expectations (e.g., how to break the news to your mom that you can’t go to your cousin’s birthday party because you have a midterm on Monday.)

Next up, a list of my biggest college regrets.

The Monday morning I moved in, Danny drove me to campus. He brought along Lori and Adrian to help. I don’t remember why my parents didn’t go, but it was probably related to work and the fact that few days later they’d be on campus for the 1-day parent orientation. Still, they weren’t missed at the moment. The siblings were more than enough help.

Once I’d checked in and received my key, we took my stuff up to my room on the third floor of the north wing. The floor was already busy with other students and their parents moving in.

I don’t remember if Lily had already arrived at the room. The details aren’t scribbled in my old journal. I do know she was in the room before we finished moving and the siblings left. Lily was one of several students from Garfield HS in the program. She left to lunch with some other students from her high school.

The siblings stuck around a little while, but soon they had to leave. I walked them out. They hugged me and wished me luck.

When I returned to my room, all that waited for me were a few boxes ready to unpack. I sat on the bet, a bit overwhelmed and feeling lonelier than ever. And I cried.

Every summer for the past 4 years I’ve gone back to dorms about once a week to meet incoming freshmen for work. I was up there this morning, admiring how “the hill” — the residence hall area — has changed. After my meeting, I walked over to the shiny, new Bruin Café and had a drink. I pulled out the Adrian Tomine book Sean lent me and got to reading.

Except for the newness of sitting in the Bruin Café, sitting by myself at table didn’t feel strange. I wasn’t embarrassed or terrified of it as I was on my first day at UCLA. I didn’t know anyone and didn’t want to eat at a table alone. Rather than go hungry, I bought a sandwich from the convenience store on the hill and ate in my room.

I still feel alone sometimes, far from my family, but I’m more comfortable with it. I’ve become quite independent and there are times when I relish in those quiet moments.

But there are still times when I want nothing more than to be back in Hacienda Heights with the parents and siblings. Invariably, those are the times when I get bad/sad news and just need a hug.