Bruin Belles: Strong and Kind

Coming to UCLA, I always knew that I wanted to serve my community. I had joined a service organization my freshman year, but the club and its members were not very active, and so I didn’t feel like I was a part of a community. Bruin Belles attracted me because not only is it a philanthropy organization, but it is also an organization focused on sisterhood and fostering women’s leadership - two values that are very important to me.

I would hear from my friends that were already in Bruin Belles that the women in the organization were strong, inspiring, and kind. My one friend put it this way: each Belle is passionate and compassionate. I felt like those two values were core to who I am, and so I decided to pursue recruitment and subsequently had the honor of becoming a member.

Right from my first Bruin Belles event at the Baby Belle brunch, I saw that my friends were right about Belles. Every Belle that I met had had their own unique passions for service, some for the environment and others for education, but also exuded a powerful compassion for all people around them.

BBSA has become my community that I love. From the trips to get Sidecar donuts to the countless hours planning decorations for the Women's Leadership Conference, every moment with Belles is so sweet. Belles are women that I admire, women that I know that I can lean on for support, and are women that continually inspire me. It is such a joy and privilege to serve alongside these wonderful women.

Kayla Park
Women's Leadership Distinguished Belle

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What I Didn't Know

What I didn't know The morning after I got the highly anticipated call that I got into Bruin Belles, I found this bell (figure 1) on my dorm door: a door belle…get it? I can still very clearly remember the few weeks surrounding this moment. I wanted it SO BADLY! When I saw the Belles tri-fold at the enormous activities fair, I knew immediately that I needed to be a part of that community. On paper, it sounded like everything I wanted: a group of likeminded passionate women who did community service together and other social events. I worked tirelessly on my application and was so nervous for my interview that I signed up for the very first slot (Monday at 8am… yikes). I got the long-awaited call late on a Friday night. Yashvi, the public relations director at the time, told me that I had gotten in, and while still on the phone I screamed “I GOT IN!” to my roommate. My heart was beating so fast. However, I think if I had known what was to come, my heart would have beat so fast it

Stepping Outside my Comfort Zone

Spring Retreat 2023 was by far one of the highlights of my BBSA experience, for reasons I never expected. Throughout my second year in Belles I served as a Social DB, and for this retreat, was tasked with the job of heading the Activities Committee. A couple months of planning and preparation later, I was wracked with anxiety about being so in charge– what if nobody had fun? What if we planned too much? Too little? What if someone gets hurt, what if I screw up as a host, what if quite literally anything negative happens? It was a very rigid, unforgiving feeling, and I was then left with the personal expectation that I was going to get there and not be able to enjoy myself because of this pressure. I was terrified of letting anyone down, especially so because this was the first weekend retreat Belles has hosted in years. If anything went awry, I felt fully unprepared to handle it, but at least I could say I had considered the worst. I tried to take solace in that semblance of control,

Finding My Home

My time as a Bruin Belle has been incredibly transformative. This exceptional group of empowered women has not only enriched my college experience but also inspired me to make a lasting impact on the world. Entering UCLA, I was eager to find a community that aligned with my passion for service and personal growth. Joining the Bruin Belles provided that and more—a warm embrace within the vast UCLA landscape. At the core of our experience is our dedication to service, from local volunteer work to impactful fundraisers. We take action, build connections, and create change within our community. Being a Belle has given me the opportunity to volunteer for initiatives such as dog adoption, environmental activism, food insecurity, education advocacy, and houselessness. Through volunteering in various areas of our community, I have found purpose and a newfound passion for advocacy. Additionally, BBSA is more than a service organization to me; we are a sisterhood that fosters leadership. The s

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