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To Two Glorious Years


During my two years at UCLA, I had been quite involved in various campus organizations. However, I still felt like I had not found that one organization that would make me want to eagerly wait for the next week just so I could attend meetings and work on events and programs with my fellow Bruins. After hearing about Bruin Belles, I thought I had found the one organization that checked all the boxes. However, after I applied, got in and went to our first event (Fall retreat) was when I was truly sure that Bruin Belles encapsulated everything I wanted in a college organization because Bruin Belles is so much more than just another college organization.
Through Belles, I have met some of the most phenomenal and incredible women who inspire me everyday to help and empower others. It was at Fall retreat when all the older Belles welcomed me and all the other baby Belles with open arms that I found myself part of a community that has played such an integral role in my college career. From attending meetings in the cute and classy Belle attire, to running around Disneyland in the pouring rain, to listening to powerful women tell their stories at the Women’s Leadership Conference, to playing soccer with little kids, to dancing the night away at Formal, and to just laughing our heads off, each fleeting moment has been a memory I will never forget. I have grown personally and professionally, I have learned to live selflessly and to always give, but most importantly, I have realized the immense value and importance of female friendships.
To my fellow Bruin Belles, thank you for two beautiful years at UCLA, thank you for welcoming me in, thank you for giving me a family of the most supportive young girls and thank you for being the lovely, strong and extremely admirable women that all of you are. Each and everyone of you is unique and special and we lead through service and through empowering those around us. To say my time in Belles has been amazing would be an understatement, as it has truly been sublime and I am so grateful to call myself a Bruin Belle!
Irsa Ashraf
Distinguished Belle

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