Skip to main content

Belles Unite


From Bruin Belles events that we host such as Women’s Leadership Conference, Winter Retreat, and Play Day to events that we attend such as Dance Marathon, Relay for Life, Challah for Hunger, LAB School events, and more, there is always an event to look forward to during the year! The Women’s Leadership Conference is one of the most empowering events, not only because we hear from incredibly accomplished and inspiring women, but also because we create a safe space for open discussion among attendees. These conversations make us cognizant of our commonalities, differences, hurdles, and strengths as well as reduce stigma around issues that too often are not discussed. The conference this year was entitled “Rooted and Reaching”. I personally interpreted this theme as a reminder to embrace individual and collective strengths and values that come from each woman’s roots and how they have propelled her through obstacles to develop resilience in the pursuit of her goals. The conference unites Belles and other UCLA attendees as students, as leaders, and as women. There is a sense of solidarity and optimism for progress upon closure of the event. These two feelings can be applied in various ways to many of our other events. Play Day is rooted in optimism for the future of the kids in the Boys and Girls Club of LA. By playing sports and doing activities with them, we hope to leave them with positive feelings toward college, education, and healthy lifestyles. After all, they may not remember exactly what we talk about, but they will remember how their day at UCLA made them feel as a reflection of college. Those feelings go two ways as Belles are left with fulfilling memories of these events that define their college experience.

Jenny Rodstein
Distinguished Belle


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Imposter Syndrome and Finding Myself

The person I was when I stepped on campus 4 years ago is unrecognizable to me now. I came to college knowing that I wanted to be pre-med but having no friends or family following a similar path, I felt so lost in navigating my path on my own. I started college being terrified of failing. I was so naive and so desperate to succeed I was not taking care of myself. My second year was when I reached my lowest point. I was so depressed and lonely, I considered leaving  UCLA. I did not feel smart enough to be there, I didn’t feel likable enough because I didn’t really have friends. Joining Belles in my junior year was a big part of completely transforming my UCLA experience. Belles was the first time I felt completely embraced by a group of people. It was the first space in which I felt like everyone truly wanted the best for each other. The people and the opportunity to help others were exactly what my heart needed at that time in my life. Service is something that is so incredibly importan
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more

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,
Post a Comment
Read more