Hello.

Welcome
to Module 3.1, Intentional engagement in co curricular and extracurricular
opportunities. In this module, we
are going to define co curricular and extracurricular
opportunities, define intentional
engagement. So much research
demonstrates that when students
are really engaged in academics and in opportunities outside
of the classroom, it actually enhances their academic experience and gives them incredible
transferable skills. So in this module, we're really going to take a close look and unpack. What
does intentional
engagement really mean? We're also going to share opportunities
for engagement and the transferable
skills that you may attain from
those opportunities, and then we'll end with
our self reflection. So co curricular and extra curricular
engagement. What's the difference?
Let's look very closely at these two different
opportunities. Co curricular
opportunities are those activities
that really enhance and enricher coursework
or curriculum. Sometimes they're tied to a specific course
or field of study, such as research
or study abroad, internship opportunities that are associated
with coursework, where you get to
earn unit credit. Extracurricular
opportunities, on the other hand, are those activities
that really broaden your educational
experience and usually take place
outside of the classroom. So for example, clubs or organizations that
you're a part of, volunteer work,
leadership opportunities. So over the course
of this class, you've had an opportunity
to reflect upon your values and the skills that you hope to
gain from UCLA. So in this session, we're inviting
you to think about what cocurricular and extracurricular
opportunities would enhance
those skills. And over the course of the next couple modules, we're really excited
to share with you those different
types of opportunities. So taking a closer look at intentional engagement. So much is talked
about, get involved, get engaged. But what does
that really mean, especially when you attend a top tier research
university? And so, my colleagues and I are really excited
to get you to think about
intentional engagement and what that
means to you. So what we mean by that is really
asking you to reflect on what's
meaningful to you as an individual. And engage in
opportunities that pique your
curiosity and that bring you joy rather than pursuing opportunities to sort of check
off a box. And for many of us, that could be really
hard because, you know, to get into an
institution like UCLA, you kind of had to engage in so much in high school, community, college,
just to get accepted. And it could have sort
of felt like that. And sometimes it's
really hard to kind of change that behavior or to get out of
that mindset. But now that you're here, UCLA has so much to offer, and we don't want you to just
tire yourself out, you know, and become incredibly exhausted
and burnt out if the opportunities
you're engaging in aren't meaningful to you or don't
bring you joy. The other thing we really invite you to
think about is that engagement may look very differently for
each individual. Whether you are a
parenting student, a caregiver, working you know more than
16 hours a week. You just have a
lot going on and you're balancing
different priorities. So it's going to look
very differently from somebody,
for example, who lives in the
residence halls versus somebody who lives off campus and
is commuting, and that's okay, right? We really want
you to think about quality
over quantity. And then one of the most
important factors of intentional engagement is balancing your
academics with, you know, courricular, extracurricular
opportunities and your overall
well being. That's the most
important thing. The more that you feel, you have the capacity to give and are
learning from these experiences and are contributing in
meaningful ways, that is something
that's going to really enrich those
opportunities. And we can't
emphasize enough and underscore the
importance of quality over
quantity, right? We really want you
to think about the level of
engagement and how much you can give to, let's say, one or two opportunities
rather than spreading yourself thin in many different things. So some opportunities that are quite
common
to consider, One could be
the Center for Community Engagement
and social change, where you will have
opportunities to engage in experiential
learning opportunities, such as internships
related to coursework. These are the
195 CE classes. That are attached
to courses where you can
earn unit credit. So if you're interested in something like that, you should definitely
think about connecting with the center
for community engagement and
social change. Another wonderful
opportunity that's quite common is
study abroad. The International
Education Office has multiple
opportunities, whether it's summer
travel study or studying abroad
for a quarter, an entire academic year through UCEAP program. Study abroad can be an
incredibly
transformative experience. I studied abroad
in between my junior and senior
years of college. I studied abroad
in Egypt at the American
University in Cairo. And not only was it sort of an introduction
to, you know, my roots and
meeting family I had never met for
the first time, but also studying
Arabic literature and sort of learning the language from
more academic lens. But honestly, beyond
the coursework, it was meeting some of the most amazing people from across the world. The
whole entire,
you know, world opened up to me. And I got to really sort
of live and breathe and speak in a completely different language
other than English. And that immersive
experience is something that I really cherish
and think of fondly, and I'm still friends
with a handful of people from
that experience. So I encourage
you to check out the Study Abroad office if you're interested
in studying abroad. Also, undergraduate
research. In previous module, we introduced you to the undergraduate
research centers, humanities and social
sciences and sciences. These are really great
opportunities to think about how you
might want to engage in formal
research opportunities, whether it's a
lab supporting a faculty member on their research
study or doing your own independent
research in the form of a 199 independent
contract course. So the undergraduate
research centers are really great
spaces for you to consider co curricular
opportunities at UCLA. Now, some extracurricular
opportunities to consider that are quite common for
UCLA students or intramural sports
or athletics, joining recreational
or team sports. This really gives you
the opportunity to build community with
other students, to move your body to focus on your
physical well being, but also to work
as a team and cultivate all of
those amazing transferable skills that will be very, very exciting
to employers. Also, internship or
work experience. Not only do we
have, you know, so many on campus jobs you might
want to consider. But if you update your
handshake profile and the career center is a wonderful
campus resource to kind of support you
through this process. You will find
different listings for internship opportunities and job opportunities both off and on campus. And
then, of course,
student organizations, leadership, and
engagement. So so. This is a great
opportunity to join existing clubs
and organizations or to create your own. Again, there are so many
opportunities at UCLA. So as we share
these with you, we really do invite
you to think about what kind of
piques your interest. What excites you?
How do you want to contribute and engage? Some of the transferable
skills that you will obtain in these
opportunities. And this will be
important, right, to kind of have the
language to market them, whether it's on a
resume, cover letter, on Linked in or
to be able to talk about in interviews. A these transferable
skills. So some really big transferable skills
you will gain through these co
curricular opportunities are critical thinking, communication, both
written and oral, data analysis, project
management, research. I mean, research demonstrates
that you were both an independent thinker and can sort of move an
idea forward, right? That you use evidence
to make decisions. Now, some of the
transferable skills we want to highlight in terms of extracurricular
opportunities would be administrative
skills, right? Having to organize people and communicate
with them via e mail or project
management platforms, communication. You see how that
comes up again? That's a real important
transferable skill, so regardless
of, you know, whether you pursue
co curricular, extracurricular
opportunities. Communication is
something that you can really amplify. Leadership, right,
showing you know, how you are as
a leader and reflecting on how you want to grow as a leader. What does leadership
mean to you? Of course, teamwork, being able to
collaborate with others, that is something
that, you know, you will have to do in most fields or
professions you enter. And then time management, showing that you know
how to prioritize and manage your
time by balancing your academics with co curricular and
extracurricular opportunities is a wonderful
skill to hone. So in addition
to, you know, some of the resources that we shared with regard to co curricular and
extracurricular
engagement, this is just a reminder
of your community and the resources
on campus that will continue to support
you on this journey, whether it's the
Career Center, Alumni Association, CAPS, academic
advising or faculty. So please have
certain touchpoints with these
resources during your time at UCLA. And so now that, you know, we've talked about
what is co curricular, what is extracurricular
engagement? What does intentional
engagement look like and
mean for you? You know, what does intentional
engagement mean? What does it
mean to engage meaningfully in your undergraduate
experience? What does it look like? And how do you imagine this engagement
contributing to your strengths and skills? So we invite you to really reflect on that
and to think about that as you continue on in this course
and beyond. And again, please
do stay connected. Feel free to reach
me via e mail. If you'd like to connect
in visiting hours. I'm happy to schedule an appointment with you. And don't forget.
You've got this. And to mark this
module as completed, please take the short
quiz on Brew and Learn and submit any assigned self
reflections. And then you
may move on to the next module.
Take care.

Welcome to Module 3.2, crafting your

UCLA journey and creating a meaningful
undergraduate experience. Now in the last
module, you learned more about engaging
with intention, specifically
learning about co curricular and
extracurricular opportunities to help enhance
your experience as an undergraduate
student at UCLA. Today, we're
going to kind of dive a bit deeper in that and speak more specifically about
how you will want to engage with intention as an undergraduate
student. So the first piece
is really thinking about how you can
support your whole self. So your academic,
personal, professional self,
as you navigate, not only your
academic experience, but who you hope to be
and who you wish to become as a UCLA graduate. We're actually going
to explore and work on building
a UCA wish list. I know that in the
previous module, we talked about, you know, trying to pull away from the notion
of checklists, which I'm definitely
not a fan of, but just kind
of wanting to brainstorm and
think more about who you hope to
become throughout your experience
here and who you want to be once
you graduate, and how can UCLA
support you in that? We're going to talk about various
opportunities for engagement
and share with you more about some
of the many resources that are offered at UCLA, and how they might
kind of tie, very thoughtfully to some of the goals that you hope to kind of
create for yourself. And last but not least, it's so important to
think thoughtfully intentionally about your
overall experience, and as we've
mentioned before, prioritizing your well
being and balance, as that's so important, not only as you navigate your
experience here, but also into your
lives beyond UCLA. So I love asking students
and even friends why they decided to attend the undergraduate
institution that they decided to attend. And so I invite you to think about why you
decided to attend UCLA. There's so many
reasons why we select the colleges or universities that
we wish to attend. There's actually
research that shows that some people pick
their college or university
based on climate, so if it's cold or if it's warmer temperatures. It could be because
it's closer to home. It could be based
on, you know, if you've had family
or friends who've attended institutions, something that's familiar. And the reason why we want
to pose
this question is because now that you're here as a student at UCLA, and you're more
familiar with what UCLA is about, what
it has to offer you, we want you to hopefully kind of tie back
your reasonings for wanting to
attend UCLA to where you are now and
where you hope to be. How can UCLA support you in your endeavors
while you're here? How do you think
it can shape you as an individual, beyond your academics, so really thinking
about who you are, as a human
being, you know, what contributions
you hope to share in society, as a graduate, who you hope to become as
a professional, and kind of just thinking more deeply about
why, you know, the choice to attend UCLA really will help and shape and impact
your experience as a student here. And so this
really ties well with the notion of
engagement with intention, which we spoke
briefly about. And you spoke we spoke about in the
previous module. And so we kind of
want to unpack that a bit more
by kind of really helping you to think more thoughtfully
about what it means to engage
with intention. So You know, no two
experiences are the same. No two students
are the same. No two people,
right, are the same. And so it's so
important to really meet yourself
where you are, where you're at, and
kind of identify what type of experience you're hoping to
kind of gain. But also thinking
about not only your identity
as a student, right? We all possess so many different identities
as human beings. And they all intersect. And so being very
thoughtful about that, as you embark on your journey as
a student here, and you're taking
coursework, but really thinking about all facets of yourself, so the academic personal
and professional self. So aside from your
degree requirements, what are some
opportunities that you might
want to engage in that will help support your work outside
of the classroom, but also in beyond once you graduate
from UCLA? So, yes, you came to UCLA, amazing institution in
terms of academics, so much that
you'll be learning in the classroom. But once again, kind
of really tying that in with the
transferable skills that you'll gain outside of the classroom to
kind of tie that all in to help you as you navigate the transition from
college to career. Your personal
sense of self. So how might you balance
out your level of engagement to
really think about you, as an individual. You know, it's so
important that you take care of yourself, you know, and that you prioritize your health
and your well being. And there's so much. There's so many
opportunities and things that you can engage in as an undergraduate student. And it's like we
want
to do it all, right? But we also have to be realistic about
what we are able to do with
everything else that we're kind of
moving through? So how might you think about ways
in which you can engage while also supporting you as
an individual, and the other aspects
of yourself that take priority and your
professional self. So really thinking
about the extra co curricular
opportunities that will help support you in identifying
what are some professional
areas that you might be interested
in upon graduation, and how might these
opportunities while you're here
as a student, help with your
transition, right? And to support you as
you're kind of moving through that and looking for opportunities beyond Now we're going to
actually look at the UCLA wish list. So on the Brew
and learn site, there will be a
wish list handout that you are able
to refer to, and I invite
you once you've completed this
module to take a look at it and kind of move through the wish
list at your own pace. Now, once again, it can feel very
overwhelming, right to have to just
jot everything down, what it is that
you're interested in, what it is that
you want to do. This wishless activity is by no means meant to create I don't want to say a sense
of overwhelming
panic and whatnot, but it's meant
to really just help you kind of flush through some of the interests that
you might have. And really go
bold, be brave. List everything that
kind of comes to mind. And the first place that we kind of start with the wish list is
really looking at yourself. So
inward, right? So we want you
to think about some words that
you would use to describe yourself now. And then maybe
share some words or think of
some words that you hope will
describe you once you're done with your
undergraduate studies. And the reason for
that is is that we are hoping that by doing so, you'll be able to
think about, right? The various activities, the opportunities that you wish to engage
in that will help support you
in becoming, I guess, your
future self or the way that you
would describe your future sense of self. And beyond your academics, we want you to
think about what you're hoping
to experience. This is a very
unique opportunity. This time of your
life. There's so much that you can
get involved in, whether it be setting
abroad or volunteering, engaging in student leadership and
organizations, and how will that kind
of help shape you as an individual
as you're moving through your
experience here? And there's so many
ways to do that. There's so many
resources on campus, which I know can often feel a bit overwhelming. And so we just wanted to
share some of them
with you here, and we will plan to have a resources
handout available to you that will have more in depth
information about each of these things that
we're sharing now. But thinking
about academics and beyond, obviously, there's ways to
engage in research, whether it be through faculty research
or even through capstone projects
with various courses, study abroad programs. I didn't have the opportunity
to study abroad, but I always tell
students if you want to, and you're able to do it. When else in your life, you'll be able to go and
immerse yourself
in another country in another place, live there and
study there. It just seems like such a personal enriching
experience beyond just obviously
studying there as well. There are wonderful
courses to support you also as well in
the academic piece, but also tying it into the
professional realm, including like
internship courses, real or an
academic credit. Um, for completing
internships. There's University
studies, shameless plug, but University
studies ten, which really
helps students with their transition
into UCLA, but also learning how
to navigate it, right? And kind of really
maximize and make the most of
their experience. And there's also
programs such as Quarter in Washington
and UC Center, Sacramento for students
who are interested in policy and who want to become more
immersed in policy while also earning
academic credit. Personal wellness, you'll hear a
lot about it. Of course, we want you to prioritize your health,
your well being. That's number
one. And there's so many ways you
can do that and a lot of different
resources that can support you in the many
facets of yourself. So counseling and
psychological services offer wellness
skill groups, and they are
small groups that are dedicated
to supporting students in personal
and social skills and academic skills that operate throughout
various quarters. There's the Rie
Center. I don't know if you've been to Ri. I definitely
recommend that you go and visit the Re
Center itself. The whole point of the R Center is
really to promote healing and resilience
among students. There's the healthy campus initiative
programs. They have the Eat
Well, the Mine Well, the B Well programs
that focus on your well being and basic needs
program as well, because nothing exists if you don't have
your basic needs, and that's so important
to all of us here. Leadership and
professional development, leadership can be found in so many different realms. From even, you
know, in the classroom, working
in group projects, but there are many
opportunities that are available
to students where you can
engage in active leadership kind
of programming. So, for example, sole student organization, leadership, and
engagement. There's so many
organizations on campus. If there isn't one,
you could create it. I think you just need
one other person to create an organization. But within there, there's so many opportunities
to work alongside your peers and do really great work
and lead by example. There's the Bruin
Development Academy, where through the
Alumni Association, where they bring
in various topics and companies that
come and talk about and provide students with purer learning experiences
where you're able to immerse and
almost kind of have an experience of what
it's like to be in a working environment
with other individuals, and they have
different areas such as public health. They have, I
think, consulting. There's so many really great
resources that are offered through the Alumni Association specifically. There's a volunteer center
where you can work to do work in the
local community and really volunteer
and give back. If you're interested
in teaching, There's undergraduate
student needed initiated
education, which allows
you to develop your own curriculum
and teach a course. So long or short, there are so many
ways in which you can immerse yourself
in opportunities related to leadership and professional
development. And once again, I
understand that this can all seem
very overwhelming. And so Go back to
the wish list, we want you to
really just kind of focus and connect
on yourself, right? You may notice
that some of your peers are
engaging in, certain activities
or interning or doing this and that. You ultimately have to do what feels right and best for you
and in terms
of your trajectory, because it's going to
look different, right? Than even your close
friends trajectory. So, now I'm kind of thinking about
your academic, your personal, and your professional
sense of self, we invite you to
draw connections between some of
those interests that you have and create tangible goals that
are meaningful, not only to
your experience as an undergraduate
student, but also as a
graduate of UCLA. And we say tangible
because, you know, saying, I want
an internship. That's a great
goal to have. But let's create smaller, you know, let's
scaffold it. So, for example, I'm going to make an
appointment to speak with a career
educator so that I can discuss different internship
opportunities. Okay. That seems so
much more right, like feasible in terms of just short term and
being able to kind of to get something done and cross something
off of that list, which I know
we're avoiding lists, cross it
off the list. Or, for example,
I'm going to have my resume reviewed, but really creating
just kind of small tangible goals to kind of get you there. And then lastly, we invite you to consider
some of the resources that are available
to you at UCLA and figuring out how they tie to these
specific goals. So how might, for example, if you're looking to
obtain an internship, you want to meet with
a career educator, so you definitely want to talk to the career center. Those are a group
of folks you'll want to meet with
for certain. Maybe you want
to speak with the Alumni
Association, as well. They have, you
know, UCLA one, which allows you
to connect with alumni and complete
informational interviews, which may lead to
an internship. So just thinking
thoughtfully about the various
resources and how it connects directly with your goal that
you have in mind. And so the importance of all of this is really just being intentional
about your experience, but also in
terms of how you go about it all, right? This can seem very
overwhelming. You know, you have
your academics that you're focusing
on your coursework, and then amidst all that, there's all this that you're thinking about in terms
of what you want your experience
to be like. And so we encourage
that you be very, very intentional
with your planning, in terms of your
time here at UCLA, so that it does seem, I don't want to
say manageable, but that it does seem
like something that you can accomplish and feel very
comfortable with. So first, we
always encourage that students create
a balanced schedule. So in talking with students, I always
suggest it. I'm like, balance out your major courses
with electives. You never know what you
might take away from a GE or a random elective. It may surprise you. I have students
who for example, have taken a food
studies class, had no idea what
food studies was, and then now they're in the minor because
they've become so passionate about
the subject matter and basically have
learned all about a field that they didn't even know existed before. So, you know, it's
not a waste of time to take electives
or even GE classes. You may be surprised by what you learn in
terms of that. And creating a
balanced schedule by having, you know, courses that offset
your major courses will also help
overall, right? In terms of balancing
all of that out. Be open and realistic. So I wish someone told me this when I was an
undergraduate student, but the moments in life where I have
felt that there have been more like doors or opportunities for me have been when I
have been open. And I mean,
open to any and all possibilities rather than having a
fixed mindset. So the notion of a growth mindset versus a
fixed mindset. And so with regard to your undergraduate
experience, whether it be
classes, right, that you were hoping to enroll in and
they're closed, or maybe an opportunity that you were
hoping to obtain, and it didn't work out, but you got
something else. We invite you and encourage that
you just be open. There's so much
that you'll learn from the things that
weren't planed, I guess you can
say, or, you know, the course you didn't
plan to take or the internship you didn't necessarily want,
but it happened. There's so much
about yourself that you'll learn and
that you will take away from
that. Plan ahead. So internships, research, recruitment,
studying abroad, they all you got to
apply in advance, sometimes often
up to a year in advance for certain
study abroad programs. So when thinking
about your schedule, thinking about what
classes you're going to take or what
you're planning to do, just think about these
sorts of things. Don't only think
about the courses you want to take. Think
about You know what? I want to study
abroad, I need to apply during
winter quarter. Or there's this internship
I'm interested in. Applications
due in spring. So just being intentional
about that as well. And just become familiar
with your options. So there's so
many people on this campus who are
here to support you, academic advisors,
career educators. We have folks in the International
Education Office, study a broad advisors who are here to
support you, student organization
leaders who are here to support you. We're all here, and we all have a wealth
of knowledge. And if we don't know necessarily the
right answer, we will connect you
to the right person. So please don't hesitate to reach out to
any one of us so that we're able to
connect you with the appropriate people to kind of help you
with your planning. And I know we've shared these resources
with you before, but so important to
kind of just once again highlight,
academic advising, the career center, the
Alumni Association, CAPs, and faculty, as you navigate not only your undergraduate
experience, but your college to
career transition. We've all been through
it personally as well. We've all been
moved by it, and we're all here to
support you through it. Please stay
connected with us. I'd love to
connect with you. Feel free to e mail me, and we can find
a time to meet. And don't forget.
You've got this. So to mark this
module is complete. Just take the short
quiz on Brew and learn and then submit the
sign self reflection. And then you can move
on to the next module.