UCLA Welcomes Students with Unique Movie Events
Learn how the University of California, Los Angeles paired engaging activities with movie screenings to create a unique series of movie events for students’ first week on campus.
With a student population of more than 30,000 and a campus situated near one of the biggest entertainment capitals in the world, it can be a challenge to keep students engaged and entertained in campus life at the University of California, Los Angeles. Yet, the school has found affective methods for sparking students’ interest, especially during their annual True Bruin Welcome Week
"We also want to make sure they’re having amazing social interactions – getting to know who they are and also getting to know their peers.” Josh O’Conner, UCLA’s assistant director of residential life
Comprised of more than 150 events so students can get a “taste of everything UCLA has to offer,” True Bruin is a joint effort of Student Affairs and Academic Affairs that provides activities and engagement opportunities to help students connect. One of the most popular events on the long list of activities are the movie screenings. During its fall 2018 welcome week, UCLA screened indoor and outdoor movies every night of move-in days, plus additional screenings sprinkled in over the following eight days. But the event organizers didn’t just press play and call it a day. They made sure to pair each showing with a unique engagement activity that fit the theme of the movie. For instance, students were able to play escape games before the showing of A SPY WHO DUMPED ME and participate in a casino night before OCEANS 8.
Mike McCormack, the Leadership & Involvement Coordinator at UCLA, shared they think the engagement opportunities are important because they help people “get to know each other and get to know what’s going on.” Josh O’Conner, UCLA’s assistant director of residential life, added “we also want to make sure they’re having amazing social interactions – getting to know who they are and also getting to know who their peers are.”
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