Themes house more opportunity

When you exit the Hedrick Hall elevator and enter the fifth
floor on the northern side, you can see big posters advertising
typical dorm events such as “Food ‘N Fotos” night
and the Leadership Intern Program. Although this floor might not
seem different from those in other residence halls, it is because
it is an all women’s floor.

The women’s floor is just one of many theme floors this
year, which includes other themes such as intercultural experience,
fitness and well-being, and academic enhancement.

From its start in 1983, UCLA’s theme housing has grown to
include a wide variety.

From the great outdoors to community service, students are able
to choose from a variety of themes that can open them to new
opportunities in those fields, as well as help them meet other
students who also share the same interests, said Jack Gibbons,
associate director of the Office of Residential Life.

Although some people in theme housing may not have requested it
or did not have it as their first choice, they might find the
opportunities granted by theme floors appealing.

“For those with no prior experience, it gives them an open
book … to widen their horizons,” said Eric Sun, a
fourth-year physiological science student and resident assistant of
De Neve’s fitness and well-being floor.

Patrick Pieng, the RA for De Neve Plaza’s intercultural
experience theme floor, said theme floors are designed to help
students expand their horizons, even if they find themselves on the
floor by chance.

“I want for those who did not choose to live on this floor
or did not have much interest in intercultural experience to learn
something new about others and hopefully walk away with more
appreciation and understanding for all people,” Pieng, a
third-year psychology and sociology student, said.

Gibbons emphasized the importance of theme housing and its
ability to help students get involved in programs that they like
and want to explore.

“Theme housing provides an opportunity for students to
congregate around similar interests and join with others in
activities and programs,” Gibbons said.

Gibbons further explained how there has been a recent
revitalization of theme housing programs.

Theme floors not only allow a forum for students to focus on
activities that they are interested in, but organizers have started
to incorporate more programs that help students become involved
with UCLA, the surrounding community and other organizations.

“Theme floors are now working to build ties with the
campus and with the community at large,” Gibbons said.

Sun emphasized the opportunities available to students in theme
housing. “It allows them to continue that interest and
further develop it. They see a much wider range of activities that
they can get involved in,” Sun said.

The fitness and well-being floors, for example, have numerous
bulletins on UCLA recreational activities, intramural sports and
other programs that promote a fit state of health and state of mind
that students can get involved in.

Daniel Tith, a second-year business economics student who lives
on the floor, said his RAs take some of the residents to play
basketball or get them involved with recreational activities like
yoga or Pilates.

The theme floors are now working with other campus entities as
co-sponsors to open new programs to students.

For instance, the academic enhancement floor has Academics in
the Commons as a cosponsor. Academics in the Commons is a program
offering tutoring for students on the hill and also provides
workshops educating residents about available scholarships and
internships.

UCLA Recreation co-sponsors the fitness and well-being floors
and provides a wide range of recreational activities for students
while the UCLA Center for Women and Men provides many workshops and
support groups on gender-related issues for Hedrick’s all
women’s floor.

Students on theme floors are then able to participate in or help
organize events involved with their co-sponsors, such as Take Back
the Night or the Clothesline Project for students on the
women’s floor.

Gibbons also explained how RAs and resident directors meet with
one another and with the students to find out what students want to
participate in.

“There will be intentional programming towards the
specific theme, and we want our residents to tell us what they
expect so we can program to their specific needs and
interests,” Pieng said.

The intercultural experience floor has already had its first
cultural program: a sampling of foods and drinks from different
cultures and places around the world. Possible future events
include salsa dancing, cooking ethnic foods, diversity workshops,
culture nights and outreach work with the Dashew International
Center, an organization that helps international students adjust to
life at UCLA and in Los Angeles.

Gibbons said theme floor leaders continue to make academic
connections with faculty and community service organizations so
that students have more opportunities to get more out of their dorm
experience.