Steven Somers, Madeline Brozen and Erik Peña all have strong attachments to the Westwood community.
Now, the Village’s newly created neighborhood council is giving these students a chance to share their perspectives and ideas with others.
Each is running for the council’s student director position, which will bring a student voice from UCLA to the Village community.
UCLA and Westwood have been in Somers’ life ever since he was young.
Somers’ father and brother both graduated from UCLA, and he has been going to UCLA basketball games ever since he can remember.
“My face was painted since I was age 3,” he said.
Taking from his experience of going to Geffen Playhouse shows and Hammer Museum events with his family, the second-year communication studies student said that such venues are ideal for having more student-related events out in the Village.
Somers is interested in creating a more vibrant atmosphere for students who live and study here, he said.
“I want to do whatever I can to make it so that Westwood is a place where students feel comfortable and where they want to go out and have a fun night in,” he said.
Brozen is also looking to get students out into the Village, but she is taking a different approach.
When it comes to community and campus involvement, the urban planning graduate student wears many hats.
Brozen is a resident of Westwood, a student at UCLA and a teaching assistant.
“Pretty much my life is Westwood. I am on all three fronts: I live, work and study,” she said.
She sees the lack of bicycle lanes and bicycle parking in the Village as an inconvenience for those who work and study at UCLA. Part of her campaign is to work on these projects in order to show students and staff that riding a bicycle in Westwood is not as burdensome as they may think, she said.
“It’s just providing these little incentives to get students back into the Village,” she said.
Peña, a second-year political science student, already has experience with Westwood community involvement. He is looking to bring his ideas to a more influential group of people.
Peña hopes to create a neighborhood watch in the North Village, a project he discussed with police and facilities officials while working for the UCLA student government facilities commission.
Officials’ interest in the idea led Peña to realize that student involvement in community issues was rare but highly encouraged, he said.
“That’s what made me realize that the gap (between students and Westwood residents) was really large,” Peña said.
He then decided to run for a position on the council.
Peña is looking to act as a bridge between the UCLA and Westwood communities and is interested in fostering more communication between the two groups.
“I want to have more events where everyone can come together, no matter if you’re a business owner or student. We’re all a part of the Westwood community, regardless,” Peña said.
The council consists of 19 seats, reserved for people such as homeowners, business owners and community service representatives, said Jann Williams, director of the transition committee that was created to facilitate the introduction of the new council.
Sixty-two people are campaigning for seats on the council.
Campaigning begins Thursday and will continue until the election on June 26.