This post was updated March 6 at 1:23 p.m.

UCLA student Ariana Garcia is running for Compton City Council’s District 4 seat in the 2024 election.

The write-in candidate, who is also a second-year sociology student, grew up in Compton, California. With the election Tuesday, Garcia sat down with the Daily Bruin to discuss how she balances being a full-time student while on the campaign trail, as well as the issues she intends to address if elected.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Daily Bruin: Why did you want to run for city council, and why in this current election?

Ariana Garcia: I’ve been a part of a group that originated in Compton – Compton Kidz Club – since I was 12. When I had recently joined the group, we were practicing at our middle school, and then out of nowhere, they wanted to kick us out. We didn’t find out until later that it had to do with the messiness that was going on between politicians in Compton. We were jumping from the park, to another school, to a different park, to find a building that we could practice in and to keep dancing, because it was originally a dance and singing group. That was honestly a very different experience. I had never experienced anything like that, and then coming to find out that it had to do with messiness in politics was very disappointing. Our city was doing that to us at such a young age. That was kind of my inspiration behind running, just making sure that kids have the resources and the training programs to have bright futures.

We were actually going to run last year because Compton’s election was local, so it wasn’t aligned with the presidential election. But then, they voted to line up the elections, so we were actually going to do it when I was 18. And then it didn’t happen, which I think was for the best, because it gave [my team] more time to prepare. And then the opportunity came this year, and I just took it.

DB: How do you think that being a full-time student at UCLA will impact your time on the city council if you were to be elected?

AG: It’s definitely going to be challenging. With the election, I have my off-campus apartment over there, but I’m coming back and forth every day. Hopefully, as a city council member, my only obligation would be to attend the council meetings, which are once a week, and I guess building a good team over here to keep up with things while I’m focusing on school.

DB: How do you think your unique background is going to be helpful for you if you were to be elected?

AG: I think the Compton Kidz Club and another organization called the Youth Vote – which its main focus was to get teens and just the community overall to pre-register and register to vote – gave me the experience. And then we’ve done a lot through those programs. We’ve done a lot of food drives, and I’ve gotten to know the community a lot better. That’s been very helpful. I’ve been able to learn about what happens behind the scenes. It all just worked as preparation for now.

DB: How has your time at UCLA inspired you to become politically involved?

AG: I’m a sophomore, so I haven’t done much, but I think just being in this environment, seeing the students and how active they are. I’ve seen – whether it’s through social media or just reading about it – how involved the student body is in whatever it is that they’re interested in, and it motivated me to do the same.

DB: What are some of the biggest challenges that you faced during the campaigns?

AG: The biggest one, I think, would be being a write-in candidate. It wasn’t supposed to be like that originally. We had called three weeks prior to the window actually being opened, and we had scheduled an appointment. They had set the number down to call back because the window wasn’t open, and they never called back. Me and my team ended up calling back, and then we found out that the window was closed, and they had taken down the wrong number.

Then, we had to go through a whole write-in process, which involved getting 20 signatures to get nominated to become a write-in candidate. There was a lot of back and forth with that. We had to get a supplemental form because we had 19 out of the 20 signatures. We needed one more signature. That honestly was just very overwhelming. At a certain point, it became discouraging because it just felt like it wasn’t going to happen. That has been the biggest challenge.

DB: What are some of the main issues that you hope to address and focus on if elected?

AG: The main ones for me, and we touched on this earlier, but youth resources. Not just for the youth, but the community overall – bringing in community partners and bringing in proper training for kids to go into whatever they desire for their future and to just build up a career.

I want to focus on homelessness as well. Fortunately, Compton doesn’t have high numbers. I want to bring in Ken Craft, who works with tiny homes, then locate land here in Compton and build homes for those that are in need. (I also want to) bring in mental health resources, other counselors and ways to bring the homeless back into society.