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Post by jonalyngaspar on Apr 13, 2022 4:29:03 GMT
Journal entry 4/12 (Jonalyn Gaspar) Today was an eventful day in regards to how many activities were happening. I personally was coming from San Diego and arrived at Ucla around 3:00 pm. I spent the last day relaxing after the rush process. But yet again, it was an experience that was rewarding in terms of personal growth and learning. Continuing on, I went to a class and got ready for the first pledge meeting of the quarter. In reflection to the meeting, I believe it was productive, but does need more organization. As I reflect back to the presentation my twin and I presented, I do believe it went well. But there is still needed improvement for better presentation skills. I did like the given criticism about what was needed to do better. And will continue to work on the said critiques. As I look forward to the week, I am excited for the upcoming pledging process. I am also hopeful for my pledge class and I, in which we will continue pushing through these upcoming weeks. Overall I am most excited for the retreat, in which I can continue meeting the active brothers. As well as strengthening the bonds of my pledge class and I. I have already planned and bought necessary supplies for the retreat. And I am also looking forward to feeding the active members and hearing the feedback in regards to my pledge classes dinner. I am hopeful the active brothers will enjoy the meal planned. And also enjoy the company of my pledge class and I. |
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Post by Jack Carleton on Apr 13, 2022 4:34:26 GMT
Today was a very hectic day overall. I initially struggled to wake up, and as a result was rushed getting ready in the morning. This in turn caused me to be 5 minutes late to my 11am discussion for Epsci eight, a class on earthquakes. The lab for today was fairly simple, but I do need to finish up the last few questions and turn it in before retreat since it is due by next Tuesday and I don’t want to think about it over the weekend. I then had a little time and went to bomb-shelter and got a double shot latte. It was really refreshing to sit and drink my coffee before I went to my 12:30 lecture for Epsci eight. The lecture was not very interesting, and I ended up creating a LinkedIn profile for an internship I am applying for tonight while I was taking notes. I also worked on updating my resume, and went through my email inbox, responding to the woman I interviewed with for the internship last week. After my lecture I walked with my friend back to the hill and then met up with some other friends at Bplate for lunch. After lunch I returned to my dorm and changed before heading to Wooden to lift. I had a good lift today but it was super crowded so it ended up taking longer than I had anticipated. After that I returned to my dorm and watched basketball with my roommate for roughly 45 minutes before changing into business professional clothes and birding to Bunche for our first pledge meeting. The meeting was very informative and although it is going to be a lot of work I am excited to grow closer to my pledge brothers and hopefully cross at the end of the quarter. I am also excited for the big/little mixer tomorrow since the families seem like one of the most fun aspects of Kappa Alpha Pi.
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kash
Junior Member
Posts: 78
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Post by kash on Apr 13, 2022 4:52:27 GMT
This morning was not too bad for me! My first class was at 11 a.m., Management 1B, and it went pretty well overall. The auditing and tax company Deloitte came to talk to my class a bit about recruitment for their summer internships, and it was very informative. As someone who is majoring in business/economics, it is always really interesting to hear about different business opportunities. After that, I went to Kerchoff Coffee Shop with one of my friends, and we shared some conversations and laughter over grilled cheese and tomato soup. Afterwards, I got some work done and then headed to John Wooden to workout for a bit. I forgot a change of shirt, so I had to work out in my long sleeved quarter zip, which was not amazing, but it was still a pretty satisfying workout all in all. After that, I went to my job at UCLA Gymnastics, where I teach gymnastics to younger kids between the ages of 4 and 9, and it definitely is a really nice experience to be around kids after spending the whole day on a college campus. After that, I quickly changed and headed over to Bunche for my Kappa Alpha Pi Pledge meeting. I did not really know what to expect, but I feel as if I left the meeting feeling very informed and excited to bond with the rest of my pledge brothers. Everyone seems so amazing and so sincere to Kappa Alpha Pi, and I definitely cannot wait to start making memories with them.
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Post by vedantmehra on Apr 13, 2022 4:53:39 GMT
The first half of the day today was fairly normal. I woke up around 10 AM, got ready, got lunch, and attended my 2 PM lecture. After that, I went over a group project for my economics class with my groups’ members, as we’re currently lagging in our progress and need to catch up to the rest of the class. I went to the gym in the early evening, at around 4:30. It was definitely a weird experience seeing so many people at the gym without their masks on, even though it’s good that we’re moving closer towards normalcy. The evening, however, was much more eventful. Today we had our first formal meeting as pledges of the Alpha Pi class of the Kappa Alpha Pi fraternity. Going into it, I honestly did not know what to expect. I had doubts regarding the time commitment that the pledging process demanded, and was slightly uneasy seeing how packed the calendar for the quarter is. However, I’m going to put my best foot forward and try to make the pledge process as meaningful as it could possibly be. I enjoyed getting to know my fellow pledge class members better. Planning the budget for dinner at the retreat was definitely an interesting experience - initially, everybody had very different perspectives on what they wanted the menu to look like. I personally wanted to take a more pragmatic approach and focus on executing it well, especially because we’re on a tight budget. However, I was surprised by how we were able to come to an agreement so quickly and easily in the end. Moving forward, I’m excited to be a part of their class.
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Post by faithndegwa03 on Apr 13, 2022 4:57:31 GMT
This morning, I woke up early to get breakfast at the study around 7 am. I finished up some classwork at my dormitory’s common room before accompanying my friends to run errands in various parts of Los Angeles. I enjoyed going to parts of the city that I had not previously seen since I am originally from Northern California. I returned around mid-afternoon and attended my Public Affairs 10 class where I learned of the experiences of a woman who grew up during tough times in Columbia. After class, I prepared for the Kappa Alpha Pi Pledge Class meeting and made my way over to Bunche Hall. We went over our responsibilities and a budget for a future dinner during the meeting. We were also required to memorize both the motto and the purpose of Kappa Alpha Pi and had to recite it at the beginning of the general body meeting in front of the current active members.
I look forward to the different ways in which Kappa Alpha Pi will both challenge me and help me grow as an individual. Additionally, I look forward to getting to know the actives and rushees more throughout the pledging process. Although I do not know what the retreat entails, the opportunity to work closely with my pledge class while building relationships with the current members profoundly excites me. I also look forward to getting to interview the actives of my choice. Talking to members one-on-one will help me better understand them as an individual while learning about their future goals and purposes.
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Post by rainajain on Apr 13, 2022 5:03:45 GMT
Today was a stressful day. On Tuesdays, I have a 9 AM class. However, I was not able to sleep until quite late Monday night, which disrupted my schedule. Further, I had to pick up a prescription in between my classes, which raised my anxiety levels over my upcoming surgery. As I reflect upon the day, I feel as though I could have been more productive during the time which I had in between classes and pledge meeting. I have been putting off some of my responsibilities, though I know my time this weekend is limited. With regard to the meeting, I felt I acted professionally and with leadership, which I am proud of. However, I could have been more prepared as I forgot to bring my laptop and had to borrow a notebook from a fellow pledge brother. I know this reflected poorly on my organizational skills, and I need to work on this aspect of my professionalism. Overall, I was most excited to finally meet my pledge brothers. I was sad to miss the ceremony, but every brother was welcoming and kind, and I look forward to building stronger relationships with them during the following weeks. I am excited for retreat, as it seems like an amazing opportunity to grow closer with the rest of my pledge class. I am also looking forward to big/little mixer tomorrow, as I know my fraternizing with actives will be limited to a strictly professional sense (other than my big and family). After meeting with some of the existing big/little pairs, I have a strong admiration for the sanctity of this tradition and the bonding within each family. Thus, I am excited at the premise of becoming more involved in that process tomorrow.
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Post by cyacoleman on Apr 13, 2022 5:10:54 GMT
Today was a very eventful day for me. I started my day off early by preparing for my 10am eps 8 discussions. Then, I spent the next few hours in the black student resource center working on homework before meeting up with a friend for lunch at 12. Shortly after lunch, I quickly headed over to the south campus where I attended my eps 8 lecture. This class is not necessarily my favorite class so my friend and I decided to sit in the front of the class today in hopes that it would help us stay more engaged. However, I’m not sure how effective our plan actually was. Immediately after my lecture I quickly scurried over to Melnitz hall where I attended my three-hour film and television lecture. This lecture ended right at 4:50 so right after I walked back up the hill and quickly changed into my business professional attire and meet up with Faith before heading over to Bunch for our first meeting. For the most part, I think our first meeting went well. I have really been enjoying getting to know my fellow pledge brothers as well as learning more about Kappa Alpha Pi. While there were many enjoyable parts of our meeting I also found that some parts were rather stressful as well. For instance, learning and memorizing our purpose was quite stressful only because I typically struggle with memorization however, by the end of our meeting with the support of my brother, I was able to memorize and recite our purpose with little to no mistakes. I also think simply learning about all of the tasks and responsibilities that we will be required to complete was a little overwhelming at first but the more they were explained the more confident a became in my ability to accomplish them.
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Post by oliviadelapp on Apr 13, 2022 5:15:22 GMT
Although today was my birthday, it was pretty uneventful leading up to our pledge meeting. I woke up at 7 am for my 8 am EPSCI 17 lab and got a blueberry muffin at the study for breakfast. I walked to my lab in the Earth and Planetary Sciences building and began my work. The lab questions were pretty hard as I am unfamiliar with looking at fossils, but I ended up making some new friends within the class and we were able to collaborate through the lab and obtain most of the correct answers on our own before our teaching assistant went over them, which was nice. After my class, I walked back up to my dorm at Centennial and took a two-hour nap, and then woke up and did a little work for my psycho-bio class before heading to get lunch. I got the chipotle turkey sandwich at Bruin Cafe along with two cupcakes for me and my roommates to share later. I then went to the mailroom to pick up the gift my parents had sent me for my birthday, which was a sweatshirt in my favorite color. I came back up to my room and was going to do a little more work and then head down the hill again for my EPSCI 17 lecture, but I was soon sent an email saying that the lecture was canceled for today because the professor contracted food poisoning. Because I did not have to attend the lecture, I was able to get more work done than I had planned to. I finished half of the videos I am supposed to watch for my psycho-bio class this week and did the entirety of my atmospheric and oceanic sciences homework. After completing this, I called my parents to talk to them for a little bit as I was getting ready for our pledge meeting and then walked down to Bunche with another one of my pledge brothers. Although tonight's meeting was very overwhelming, I am excited for what is to come and am ready to commit a lot of time to Kappa Alpha Pi. After the meeting, I had dinner with one of my roommates at Bruin Plate and am now going to do more work before I go to bed.
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Post by alizanovoa on Apr 13, 2022 5:27:14 GMT
My morning was rushed because I decided that I wanted an extra five minutes of sleep tonight. I take a class with my roommate, I am the one that has the alarms that wake us up. I did set myself up for success because I set out my outfit and other items at night so I do not fall behind. After I got ready I met with my floormate to go to our anthropology Lecture. The class was overall interesting but if you read the book you do not have to show up because the Professor just repeats what the book says. After anthropology, I walked to my Political Science class. That class was okay but it is structured the same as anthropology. My friend from that class later walked together to go to my job at the court of sciences. I was dreading that all day. My least favorite part of the week is when I am scheduled to work. The good thing is I am only scheduled for one hour so after I came back to my dorm and got ready to be in professional attire. Overall I am excited to become an official member. Looking at the calendar it seemed to provide a lot of skill-building that can help with law school. I am most excited about mock trial stuff because I have a small amount of experience. My nights are always so busy because I stay up doing homework. Hopefully, I finish early because I have work tomorrow morning.
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Post by coltonharrison on Apr 13, 2022 6:21:25 GMT
Today was a rather mundane day at first. I woke up at 8:15, and showered and dressed myself before heading to breakfast at Bruin Plate. My roommate and I have very similar schedules so we share two of our classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Our first class is Economics 41; probability and statistics for economists, where we learned about conditional probability and independent events. I am currently fighting a minor cold, so I was especially tired and lethargic during this lecture. Our second class is Management 1B, where we continued our previous lecture on new calculator skills. Because my last class of the day, Dinosaurs and their Relatives, was canceled; I used the extra time I had to take a quick power nap before joining my friends for lunch. WIth the extra time before my first pledge meeting for Kappa Alpha Pi, I visited my management professor in office hours where I had a productive discussion with her regarding my future career. With time running thin after my meeting, I rushed back up to the hill and dressed myself for my first pledge meeting. The meeting was both what I had expected it to be but also not at all what I had thought. I was prepared to be tasked with numerous requirements that I would need to complete over the quarter, and yet the time requirement and attention to detail still surprised me. The most unexpected aspect of the meeting however was the free time we were given and the relatively unstructured last hour of the meeting where we struggled to cohesively work and brainstorm. Certain members of the group stepped into different leadership roles and it became apparent that there are a large number of strong personalities in our group.
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Post by julianaabraham on Apr 13, 2022 6:39:17 GMT
I didn't have class today, so I had a late start to my day. I ended up making a few different calls to discuss various appointments. I facetimed with my friend from back home and spent some time catching up with her about our lives and what was going on. I also called my mom to discuss Easter and what was happening with my various responsibilities at school on top of my school work. I got ready for the day and headed out to lunch. Later, I visited some of my friends at the Glendon and was shown around the complex. We ended up walking to get food and taking it to go back to the apartment. Once I was back on campus, I got ready and headed to Kappa Alpha Pi’s meeting. In the meeting, we discussed a dinner plan for one day of the retreat, as well as went over crucial information in our pledge binders. Afterwards, I went to Target for some shopping and boba with my roommate. When we got back on campus, our suitemates came over and talked with us. We ended up discussing our transferring process and the reactions we get as transfers. Additionally, we also talked about apartments for next year. I’ve been confused and unsure about living situations for a while so me and my roommate discussed potential apartments and drove by some. I’m ending the night with some light studying as I’ve been behind on some of my Philosophy readings for the week.
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Post by korrale on Apr 13, 2022 6:40:28 GMT
This morning I woke up at 10 and decided to have a relaxing morning. Today was not too busy for me and I only had one class at 2pm. I relaxed and eventually slowly started getting ready for class. Unfortunately, time slipped away from me and I ended up rushing a bit to class, having to finish my avocado toast in a hurry. The class I went to was geology and it was fairly enjoyable. We learned about plate tectonics, the different types of faults, as well as the mechanical and chemical compositions of the earth. The class was only an hour long but I did get a little sleepy because I usually crash around 2 to 3 pm in the afternoon. At one point, I had to go to the restroom to refresh myself so that I could actually pay attention. When the class ended, I just returned to the dorm. On my way back however, I did spend a little time sitting at the tennis courts watching the athletes play. I noticed that their serves were extremely fast and loud. Afterwards, I spent about an hour in the dorm, relaxing and snacking a bit before getting ready for the first pledge meeting. It was clear that we were all really excited to be a part of this pledge class and that we were all driven individuals. After the pledge meeting, I met up with a close friend to have dinner together and talk about our weekend plans. Usually my roommates and I spend time catching up on our day at night but this night, we were all really busy so it wasn’t possible.
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Post by abigailrubtsova on Apr 13, 2022 6:40:52 GMT
Though busy, my day has been very productive and exciting. I attended my Jerusalem: Holy City class, which is a class I enjoy and look forward to. I was a little stressed, but I had a fun outfit on, something that always makes the day slightly more bearable. After class, I walked with a friend to Hillel. This is my first time visiting the Hillel building for something other than Shabbat dinner, so the vibe was a lot different. I got to see people that I don’t normally see outside of a religious setting, and that was a fun thing to do. I got some work done there, whilst socializing, and then walked back to my dorm to get changed for my first Kappa Alpha Pi pledge meeting. I just recently bought a blazer, so I was excited to wear it for the first time. I was very excited to attend the meeting. I was looking forward to seeing my pledge brothers, and learning more about the fraternity. The meeting was a lot of information, and I realized that Kappa Alpha Pi will be a lot more time consuming than I initially thought. However, I am always up for a challenge. I enjoyed the activities I worked on with my peers. It was hectic, yet rewarding. Post meeting, I had to drive home and pick up my sister, then go to Torah study, as I normally do Tuesday nights. I was a little late because the meeting went longer than I had anticipated, but it all worked out because the class was canceled anyway. I still went into the house to have a conversation with my Rabbi, and it was very pleasant. I hadn’t seen him the week prior, and I had a lot to catch him up on. I had a very enriching and enlightening conversation with him and my sister. It was also nice to visit his kids, seeing as I hadn’t seen them in a couple months. Then, I drove my sister back home, and said hi to my parents. Today and this week will be very busy, but I would rather be busy and fulfilled compared to unoccupied and not. I’m looking forward to learning more about Kappa Alpha Pi this week, and getting to know my pledge brothers more.
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Post by danieljudd on Apr 13, 2022 6:44:24 GMT
Dear Journal, Tuesdays are always my longest day, I have classes starting at 9 am consecutively going until they culminate with a brutal 2 hour lab. Last night I spent most of the night up writing an essay for my writing 2 class, so this entire day I have been super tired. Because of this I wasn't able to get breakfast like I usually do and ended up being hungry until 4 pm when I finally got back to the dorm. The lack of sleep ended up hurting me in more ways then one, I ended up completely forgetting that I had a quiz in my EPS SCI GE and ended up getting the lowest score out of the class on the quiz. Lowkey think I might drop the course because I have not been vibin with tectonic plates lately, and Im enrolled in 19 units which is a lot, especially with all the pledge work we will now have as well. Once I finished classes I stood in a horrendously long line to get some Panda Express, I got a plate with teriyaki chicken and beijing beef, absolute bopper of a combination. Then I went to the gym with my girlfriend and we did a push day, saw one of my friends there which was pretty fun. After the gym, I got ready for our first pledge meeting, despite getting lost twice at Bunche I ended up getting to the room we had to meet in early which I thought was pretty cool. I was really surprised to see how much work we are going to have to do as pledges, I knew that the process would be lengthy and would take a lot of work, but wasn't sure exactly what would be expected of us. I think I am the most nervous for the mock trial aspect of the pledging process because I have never done it before and generally get a bit nervous with public speaking. Overall Im super excited to get to know my pledge class better and look forward to all of our adventures in the upcoming weeks  |
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Post by lesliehernandez on Apr 13, 2022 7:11:54 GMT
Today was a pretty eventful and tiring day. Lately it kinda feels like there just isn't enough time in the day to get everything done. I woke up semi early cause I went to sleep at 3am for no valid reason at all (probably the last time i’ll be doing that during this process). I cooked breakfast cause I just knew it was going to be a long and exhausting day (so yay, the most important meal of the day). I went to my two classes and then worked at my philosophy job right after. I only had an hour to get back home in order to change for the first meeting today. So I ran home and luckily had already laid out what I was going to wear so I quickly changed and sprinted out the door. Our first meeting went pretty well I’ll say. I’m not gonna lie there was so much that was thrown at us and it felt pretty overwhelming in the moment, but now as i’m back home and I’m reflecting and analyzing how I’m gonna manage being a full time student, having two jobs, preparing for my board position at my other organization (Bruin Hope, y'all should join) all while pledging, but honestly I’m pretty good at time management and I know I just have to take it one day at a time. I’m turning this in a little late because I had to submit an application for a job opportunity at LPPI (Latino Public Policy Initiative) next academic year and I couldn't miss such an amazing opportunity so I weighed out the opportunity cost and simply decided to take my L with my first journal entry.
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