Bruin Belles Service Association: Blog

There are many Belle events that are lighthearted and fun. And then there are others that enable you to confront some of the grave injustices in our world. And I think it's critical that any service organization have both. That's why I am so grateful that one of the Women's Leadership events offered this Spring was a visit to the iEmpathize exhibit on the horrific realities of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, particularly of young women and girls. Although it was conveniently located on campus, stepping into the exhibit felt like I was stepping into another world. The iEmpathize exhibit was really heavy, and was a lot to take in. I felt like, for the time I was there, I stepped out of my own bubble of worries and stepped into a much deeper problem. As the exhibit puts it, I truly empathized by stepping into another person's suffering. And there was so much suffering. I am familiar with trafficking, however, for some reason the combination of videos, photos and...

This quarter, I participated in my second Dance Marathon. Although last year I danced the full 26 hours with Belles, this year I was a Moraler, whose job is to come in for three hours and pump up the dancers who are completing the full event. The Bruin Belles Moraling crew chose 3-6am for our shift, and the theme during this time (much to my delight) was Disney! After an hour-long nap at 1am, I woke up and dressed in my best Disney attire (complete with a tutu and flower crown, of course) to join the rest of the Belles at Pauley Pavilion. I also drank a lot of coffee right before this, so as I skipped down to Pauley I was feeling pretty alive, and I seem to remember excitedly screaming in a couple of my fellow Belles’ faces before we ran inside (sorry Abby and Charlotte! I was a little pumped if you couldn’t tell). I know that right now, we probably sound crazy for wanting to wake up and dance from 3-6am, but it was honestly one of the best experiences I’ve had thi...

Over the last three years that I have been in Belles, I have been blessed with the opportunity to volunteer with countless of groups and organizations. Each and every one have them has opened my eyes to a new cause and widened my perspective. My favorite, however, would have to be SOAR. SOAR, also known as Saturday Opportunities for Adaptive Recreation, teams up with the Wooden Center to work with teens who have disabilities to inspire and promote fitness, build self confidence, and provide fun! Every Saturday, a group of our girls, get to buddy up with these teens and participate in an activity with them. My most memorable activity was the dance workshop we had where we all learned different choreographed dance moves and tried to put them all together. Let me preface this by saying that by no means am I a dancer. Most of us weren't. However, the teens had a sense of exuberance and enthusiasiam to learn that was so infectious and rubbed of on us all. By the end, we were all laughin...