With more than 800 student groups and organizations, it is
difficult to miss the enthusiasm and passion of UCLA students. Each
day students participate in and help plan countless programs to
benefit the UCLA community and the greater Los Angeles area.
With so many student groups at UCLA, new and smaller ones say
they often face difficulties competing against larger, well-known
organizations.
Students involved with Camp Kesem, a weeklong student-run summer
camp for children whose parents have cancer, are searching for a
way to create a lasting presence on a campus already full of
student groups.
The organization is led by 10 students who spend the year
raising money and recruiting student counselors to create a camp
where kids can have fun and also give their parents fighting cancer
a week to breathe, said Camp Kesem fundraising coordinator Tom
Joseph, a third-year molecular, cellular and developmental biology
student.
Camp Kesem, in its second year, hosted 80 kids on an entirely
donated $40,000 budget this past summer.
Members said Camp Kesem is different from other organizations
because it is made up of a close group of friends.
“What makes (Camp Kesem) different is that the counselors
really feel like family. After camp the counselors feel the deepest
connection to their kids,” Joseph said.
But Camp Kesem, like other smaller student groups, faces
competition recruiting members from more well-established student
groups on campus.
Ravi Chaudhari, co-director of Camp Kesem, said the largest
problem the group faced was finding volunteers who would seriously
commit themselves for a long period of time.
“As a smaller group we don’t get taken as seriously
as larger groups,” Chaudhari said.
Chaudhari said he chose to be a part of Kesem over other student
groups because of the feeling of accomplishment the organization
gives him.
“Our staff learned everything and figured out how to make
a camp run instead of copying from the past,” Chaudhari
said.
“I wouldn’t get that experience from a larger
organization. In (Camp Kesem) I feel more connected to the cause
““ we are the foundation of the organization,” he
said.
Joseph said Camp Kesem members are concerned with keeping the
group active and successful for years to come, though not
necessarily by growing into a “super-large”
organization.
“We are trying to recruit new members to make the
organization last when we leave. We don’t want Kesem to die
with us,” Joseph said.
But some of the larger groups on campus had small beginnings as
well.
Dance Marathon, a 26-hour dance-a-thon benefiting the Elizabeth
Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, has grown to be one of the
largest student groups on campus, with more than 700 students
participating in last year’s event.
The organization began five years ago after a few students
participated at a Dance Marathon event hosted during a fraternity
and sorority convention, and enjoyed it so much that they brought
the idea to UCLA, Dance Marathon Director Aviva Altmann said.
“Dance Marathon started out as a small organization of
people trying to plan an event. No one really had any idea of how
large Dance Marathon could really be,” said Jenny Wood, a
founding member of Dance Marathon and former Undergraduate Students
Association Council president.
The first Dance Marathon was held in Tom Bradley International
Hall and had 200 participants, Altmann said.
Dance Marathon attracted students because “committee
members committed themselves to the organization and committed
themselves to the cause and then were able to engage students in a
fun way,” Wood said.
Altmann contributes the success of Dance Marathon in just a few
short years to the advertising created by its organizers.
“The publicity, like wearing the high-lighter T-shirts,
made Dance Marathon stand out and turned it into something
recognizable and unique on campus,” Altmann said.
Dance Marathon was also successful because of its partnerships
with other UCLA organizations, Wood said. The organization is an
affiliate of the Student Welfare Commission.
Members of both Camp Kesem and Dance Marathon said one of the
most important aspects of their student group is the cause they
support.
“(Dance Marathon) is not just another event or another
club. It’s a 26-hour event where people come together and
bond,” Altmann said.
Similarly, Camp Kesem members are proud of the support their
camp offers to kids.
“Camp Kesem really is a grassroots movement. A group of
people came together with an idea and now have an amazingly
successful camp. It’s very pleasing to see this can happen
without bureaucratic issues and without losing motivation,”
Joseph said.