Welcome Prospective Social Ecology Students!

The nationally ranked UCI women’s water polo team returns to the NCAA Championship for the second year in a row this weekend in San Diego, CA. UCI (24-6), the no. 4 seed, plays no. 5 seed Loyola Marymount (20-9) in the quarterfinals today at 5:15 p.m. at San Diego State University. Other schools in the bracket include UCLA, Stanford, USC, and Princeton.

Follow them in all the latest action here. Zot!

Greek Songfest has been a UCI tradition for over 30 years. It’s a time when the campus community and alumni come together under one roof to enjoy a great show that showcases the musical talents of UCI students in a Broadway-style performance. Each fraternity and sorority is paired up to perform 12-minute renditions of various musicals. Proceeds from this year’s ticket sales will go to the Down Syndrome Foundation of Orange County.

Greek Songfest 2012 takes place on Friday, May 11 at the Bren Events Center.

On Saturday, May 5, the UC Irvine men’s volleyball team swept the USC Trojans 3-0 to win its third national title in the last six years. We’ll zot to that! Click here to read a UCI news feature on this amazing accomplishment.

Go ‘Eaters!

Read about recent events, student and faculty achievements, and alumni spotlight in the latest e-Newsletter from the School of Social Ecology here.

Happy Star Wars Day, Future ‘Eaters! May the Fourth be with you.

No. 1 seed UC Irvine beat No. 4 seed Penn State 3-1 on Thursday to advance to the NCAA Finals against USC at the Galen Center on Saturday, May 5 at 7 p.m. Catch all the action here. Rip ‘em ‘Eaters!

On Saturday April 21^st, UCI’s annual Celebrate UCI event took place on our beautiful campus. Wayzgoose is part of Celebrate UCI, an annual open house for prospective students and their families, as well as for current students, alumni, and the larger community. There is always a car show, carnival rides, student organizations, dance performances, and food amongst other things for people to keep occupied with. This is a great opportunity for prospective students to check out the campus and gain access to important campus resources like the Office of Admissions.

As a Campus Representative who gives tours, I was fortunate enough to work at Celebrate UCI by engaging with UCI prospective students and parents on a tour. What makes tours special and different than any other day is that we have the option of taking a tram tour, instead of a walking tour. Tram tours are about 30 minutes long where people are given a tour of the campus while riding a shuttle bus. Because the campus is laid out in concentric circles, it makes it very easy to navigate the campus while on a bus. As parents are waiting for their tours, I had the opportunity to talk to many prospective students and parents and answer their questions about the campus. Parents and students are always excited to learn anything they can about UCI.

Fortunately, I also had the opportunity to participate in Wayzgoose. As expected, the event was filled with lots of student organizations selling food on campus from nachos, tamales, and Korean BBQ to boba and strawberry lemonade. There were also various student performances going on. What I found particularly interesting this year was the addition of Zumba. Zumba is a new workout dance class that consists of Latin music and dances. Therefore, there was a Zumba instructor leading a Zumba session at Aldrich Park. On my lunch break, I was able to participate in the dancing after eating some food. The instructor played Latino music such as Tribal, Pitbull, and Shakira and many people gathered around to watch or dance after ordering their food. Once again, Celebrate UCI/Wayzgoose was a successful event filled with food, dance, performances, and laughter.

After being here at UCI for four years, this past weekend was my first ever Relay For Life. For those of you that don’t know, Relay For Life is an event that allows communities to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember the loved ones, and fight cancer. It is a 24 hour event where teams are asked to have one representative walk around the track at all times.

When I was in middle school, I encountered my first cancer story. A kindergarten friend had been diagnosed with cancer after having suffered a bone injury at a soccer game. A couple of years later, my neighbor passed away from pancreatic cancer and from that point forward, my knowledge about cancer widened. Even though I didn’t agree with it, I learned to accept the fact that cancer was terminal and could impact anyone without any given symptoms.

Relay For Life was an eye opening experience where organizations were fundraising for a cause and collaborating with one another to support each other for 24 hours straight. When I arrived at the Aldrich Park, many people were hanging out, studying for midterms, walking around the designated track in remembrance of survivors, playing soccer and football, and of course enjoying their activities the committee had planned.

The most memorable moment was the Luminaria Ceremony for it brought together everyone in the community, young and old. The event was to reiterate the purpose of Relay For Life and remember our loved ones that have passed away or those that have dealt with this disease. After hearing a survivor story, glow in the dark sticks were passed out and at different times those honoring their parents, grandparents, uncles/aunts, neighbors, and friends were told to break the glow stick to make it actually glow. They had us next take a silent lap in remembrance of them all. The lap consisted of minimally 900 students, faculty, staff, and community members walking together. Relay For Life was about empowering anyone that had encountered cancer in different shapes and forms and of course awareness for those that wanted more information.

ACCESS Social Ecology Program Mentor Wendy Guzman-Rangel (top row; second from left)

ACCESS Social Ecology Program Mentor Arman Liwanag (second from right)

UC Irvine, a national powerhouse in men’s volleyball, won the MPSF conference tournament over the weekend with big wins over USC and Stanford. UCI earned the top national seed at the NCAA men’s volleyball championship, which takes place this week at the Galen Center at USC.

UCI plays Penn State in a semi-final match on Thursday. The other two schools in the Final Four include USC and Lewis. The national championship match is set for Saturday. UCI men’s volleyball have won two national titles in recent years (2007, 2009). Let’s go ‘Eaters!

Take Back is an annual event that occurs on the UCI campus each spring. The night is to bring awareness of sexual violence and to honor the survivors of sexual violence. This is event was co-sponsored by UCI’s Campus Assault Resources and Education (CARE) and by the Gender Education Initiative.
The night usually starts with an opening and introduction of what the event helps to promote continued by a candlelight vigil and march to take back spaces where people feel the most uncomfortable. The candlelight vigil and march take place around campus and through Aldrich park. During the day, Aldrich Park may be great and an amazing place to hang out and spend time between classes, but at night people feel just the opposite. Being able to walk through the park with a numerous people chanting at the top of our lungs was our way of feeling empowered while stating we belong there. Knowing that you stand for a cause like this makes it meaningful.
After returning to the flagpoles, I thought Take Back the Night was done, but that was only the beginning. As the the march concluded, we were encouraged to approach booths and partake in activities. I went to a particular booth that dealt with stalking since I wanted to learn more about it. I was caught off guard when I learned that having someone drop off flowers on your doorstep after repeated attempts to end the relationship is considered stalking. Simple things that seem to be sweet could be stalking if unwanted. It was such a good activity since now that I think about it, there probably are times when I’ve questioned someone’s actions but have dismissed it as being paranoid.
The Clothesline Project was just one more thing to observe. It is significant for it consists of a numerous amounts of shirts telling victim’s stories. Stories that you sometimes don’t even imagine if you are not exposed to the situations. Mixed emotions were the only thing running through my head. A story about two little sisters was the one that finally hit me hard. The oldest sister was upset for even though she tried to protect her younger from being sexually abused by their stepfather, she had not succeeded and that was her biggest regret. Finally, the evening concluded with a speak-out where survivors were able to share their experiences of assault and recovery.

Pictures Credit to Marlin Agoub