Most students are 18 years old when they first move into the dorms, but Hana Cho was just shy of 18 months old.
“Rieber Terrace,” the name of her home, was one of the first phrases she uttered after moving in this September.
Hana is the daughter of John Cho, a faculty-in-residence and associate professor of computer science.
“In the evening, I’ll take her to the various floors, and students will say hello and play with Hana,” Cho said. “Some of the students really miss their family … their sibling or younger brother. They can interact with Hana, and it’s good for them.”
This year, 16 faculty members are living on the Hill, where they help coordinate programs for students and build relationships with residents. Of those faculty members, 10 are raising children in apartments adjacent to dorm rooms.
For these children, UCLA is more than a school ““ it’s a hometown, a playground, the place where they are growing up.
“The prototypical suburban childhood doesn’t expose children to the many different things in the world,” said Marjorie Orellana, a professor of education. “Here they get tastes of the students, the different types of children.”
Recently, the number of FIR with children has increased, said Lori Vogelgesang, assistant director of the Office of Residential Life.
The Hill’s baby boom is the product of many factors.
The three-year terms of some FIR ended last year, bringing new professors and their families to the halls this fall.
In addition, tenured professors used to dominate the program, but ORL now reaches out to tenure-track junior faculty, drawing young families to the Hill. The construction of additional residence halls in the 1990s included two-bedroom faculty apartments that are more tailored to families.
For some faculty members, living on the Hill is more convenient. Rashmita Mistry, an associate professor in education, used to spend more than an hour each day driving back and forth between Encino and UCLA. She and her husband both work at the university, while her 6-year-old son attends the UCLA Lab School on campus.
Now a resident of Delta Terrace, Mistry said she can walk her son to school and spend more time with him, watch the marching band or attend sporting events.
Other faculty members said living in the dorms is a way to escape the expensive Los Angeles real estate market. By living on the Hill, Cho has a few more years to find the perfect first house for his family.
For now, his family is still part of a neighborhood ““ children of faculty members will ride scooters around Sunset Village, have play dates in their apartments, and eat together in the dining halls.
“When my friends heard I was moving to UCLA, they all wanted to come,” said Joseph Green, the 11-year-old son of Charlene Villaseñor Black, an associate professor of art history.
Joseph had been nagging Villaseñor Black to move into the residence halls since he was seven, but she worried that he was too young for college life.
“I thought he might see drugs or alcohol or sex ““ those sort of things. But I haven’t seen anything,” Villaseñor Black said. “He’s certainly heard swearing language … but it’s okay, words aren’t going to kill him.”
Tony Carthen, a third-year psychobiology student and resident assistant, said Joseph’s presence on his floor adds a degree of responsibility for students.
“Last year on my floor, there was a lot of inappropriate but college humor. Since he’s on our floor, we have to censor ourselves,” Carthen said.
Joseph has picked up on some of the other students’ habits, such as studying in the lounge or playing the Birdman game. And when the girls next door were laughing loudly late into the night, he started blasting “Eye of the Tiger” in retaliation.
Other faculty members’ children have also immersed themselves in college life.
Andrés Orellana, who is 13-years-old, was scared when he moved into the dorms over six years ago.
Now, he plays basketball in the John Wooden Center and remembers building gingerbread houses with residents in Canyon Point.
Moments such as these stand out as college experiences in students’ minds. But for Andrés, walking down to Westwood or hanging out by the Bruin statue will imprint as childhood memories.