UCLA ORL holds contest for new theme community on the Hill

The UCLA Office of Residential Life recently opened their yearly theme community contest, allowing students to submit ideas for new themed floors on the Hill.

The contest is part of an effort to provide more options for students to discover a community at UCLA, said Zan Tansey, the resident director at Rieber Hall. The contest was created to find student-initiated themes, he added.

To enter the contest, students have to fill out an online form with the name of the theme, a faculty advisor, and a target group of students. The contest began Oct. 24 on the ORL website and will end on Nov. 4.

The newest themed floor, Gender, Sexuality and Society, was student-initiated and has had positive results so far, Tansey said.

While it does not cost anything to create a themed floor or maintain one beyond the costs of a regular residential floor, ORL must find enough interested students for a floor to be created, Tansey said. He could not specify how many residents were needed for a themed floor idea to be approved.

Because the process is a new one for students, the contest has only had a moderate response, Tansey said.

Pauline Huynh, a first-year nursing student, said she had not heard much about the competition and does not plan on participating in it. She said she likes the random variety of the non-themed floors she has visited.

Themed floors are a new way to get students engaged in their communities and find others with similar interests, Tansey said. There are a total of six themes, including floors on Afrikan Diaspora Studies, Sustainable Living and Transfer Experience.

Tansey said that he does not know the exact numbers of students who chose to live on themed floors and those who were assigned, but said he has heard positive feedback.

Jaquesha Scott, a second-year undeclared student and a resident on the Afrikan Diaspora Studies themed floor, said living on the themed floor allows her to connect with other students and her black heritage.

Scott said that the floor’s specific themed activities created a more social environment than in buildings like Hitch Suites, where she lived last year.

Allowing students to create their own theme ideas gives students the ability to make connections to academics and find an environment that is intellectually engaging, Tansey said.