Friday, November 21, 1997
From pencils
to underwear to bonfires, we’ve got spirit
‘SC: Those who think Bruins lack it should take a look around
campus
By Jesse Torres
You really had to see it to believe it. For four years, I’ve
been going to this school – four l-o-o-ong, l-o-o-o-ong years – and
I’ve never seen a Beat ‘SC bonfire like the one on Wednesday night.
There must have been over 1,000 people there – over 1,000
screaming, ranting and raving Bruins shouting out 8-claps loud
enough for the entire city to hear. It was complete and total
pandemonium.
You know, every year I hear the same damn thing: "UCLA has no
school spirit." Are you serious? Where were you my first year when
it seemed like the entire student body poured into Westwood after
winning the basketball championship? I know I wasn’t the only one
getting tear-gassed, shoved around and beaten down that night. You
probably weren’t around last year either, when we handed the
Trojans their sixth-straight defeat after an unbelievable second
half. It seemed like all of the apartments were going to collapse
with the number of people jumping up and down and throwing each
other around in the excitement.
The problem with school spirit is that is really depends on
individual perspective. For some people, school spirit is
conspiring with three of their friends and going to a football game
buck naked except for the letters "UCLA" written boldly across
their chests. For others, it means buying that $50 license plate in
Ackerman Union that says "UCLA Bruin" and attaching it with loving
care onto their family’s beat-up station wagon. Or maybe it just
means buying those $10 three-subject notebooks that aren’t really
anything that special except for the fact that they’ve got that
huge UCLA logo written on the front, as if someone in your lecture
hall is really going to wonder what school you go to.
There’s no way you could convince me that UCLA has no school
spirit. Signs of it are everywhere – on the clothes we wear, our
keychains, our ID-card holders, our folders … for God’s sakes,
they’ve even got the freakin’ logo on underwear. If anything, I’d
say UCLA students are smothered with school spirit.
But you can really see school spirit in the way we help each
other and get involved with the campus. Hundreds of student groups
exist to help Bruins and support each other. Their school pride can
be seen in the time and effort they put in to present a cultural
show to the campus or to create a tutorial project for students. In
my organization, the Student Alumni Association (SAA), we spend a
ghastly number of hours putting on events that most of you probably
have no idea we’re responsible for, like the Beat ‘SC rally, the
Junior/Senior Career Conference, Spring Sing and the Senior
Barbecue. And we do it all for the sole purpose that we want to
bring the school closer together and involve the campus in fun,
exciting and interactive activities. And we’re not alone: All
student groups exist to make you feel like UCLA is a close-knit
community and that you are an important part of your campus.
Someone once asked me: If I were sliced open, would I bleed blue
and gold? Yeah, probably. I have to admit that I love this school.
I love its diversity; I love its sports teams; I love the fact that
I can walk onto campus and find 5 million things going on for
Bruins to take part in; I love the fact that students will spend 25
cents more on a pencil just because it says UCLA on it. That’s what
school spirit’s about – it’s the subtle stuff. It the stuff you
wouldn’t really notice unless you took the time to look.
So thanks to everybody who works to make this school a little
smaller and a little more exciting. You make the school what it
is.
Thanks to the Campus Spirit Committee and the SAA for the great
rally and bonfire. See you at the Coliseum on Saturday. Rose Bowl,
baby.