This post was updated May 29 at 5:53 p.m.
Platforms/goals: Excellent
Zuleika Bravo came into the transfer student representative role with ambitious goals not just to change material realities for students but also to shift the culture of what it means to be a transfer student at UCLA. While her summer bridge program helped transfer students acclimate to a virtual campus, her other goals focused on ensuring a better baseline awareness of transfer students’ experiences and increasing transfer representation on campus.
Platform execution: Excellent
Increasing awareness is no easy task, but it is one the Office of the Transfer Student Representative took on with vivacity. The office developed and held student-led transfer awareness training for a wide variety of student organizations, with plans to cement those trainings into annual practice. Bravo also spearheaded a summer bridge program, which helped familiarize over 270 students with UCLA across a five-day period rather than the normal one day. Institutional representation was also high on Bravo’s list. She and her office successfully appointed transfer students to spaces where they were previously excluded, such as the Student Fee Advisory Committee, the Academic Senate and the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
Engagement: Excellent
Bravo acknowledged that engagement in an all-online school year was difficult. That didn’t stop her office from leaning into social media as a means to reach students. Perhaps more importantly, the office served as a nexus for transfer students across the globe to connect. Whether that be a Halloween costume contest or virtual game nights, the importance of staying in touch cannot be overstated in such a difficult year.
Transparency: Excellent
The office made a clear effort to stay transparent throughout the year. Bravo posted biweekly officer reports online, gave verbal updates on each committee’s work, co-created a newsletter for transfer students, held weekly office hours and attended other community meetings. This consistent effort to stay connected is a positive example for future officers to follow.
What the officer wishes they could’ve done
Bravo said she felt frustrated by the continued undervaluing of her office’s work and the lack of buy-in from administrators. There was also no long-term Transfer Student Center director for the majority of her term, which made it difficult to accomplish some of her initial goals, such as establishing a transfer-specific scholarship. Additionally, Bravo wished she could’ve done more to expand student representation on the UCLA Basic Needs Committee.
