Thursday, January 15, 1998
‘I want to experience
everything’
ROTC: Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird!
It’s a plane!
It’s … Carrie Bruhl?
By Rachel Munoz
Daily Bruin Staff
During the 1980s, Wonder Woman may have been portrayed as Linda
Carter with extraordinary bullet-blocking wristbands and an
invisible airplane. But over a decade later, UCLA might have a
wonder woman of its own: Carrie Bruhl.
She doesn’t wear the outfit streaked with red, white, and blue,
nor does she grace television screens; she can’t, she’s too busy.
The third-year, pre-med, psycho-bio student, also pursuing a minor
in women’s studies, spends her time doing a few other things.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Bruhl begins her day at 6:30 am
with a Reserve Officer Training Corp (ROTC) workout. The hour
workouts usually consist of push-ups and sit-ups or a perimeter run
around UCLA.
She laughs, mentioning that since her first class begins only a
half hour after the workout she usually has to wait until after
class to run back up the hill to Saxon Suites to shower. But this
seems to be the least of her worries.
The physical workouts are only the tip of the ROTC requirement
iceberg. Bruhl won a four-year ROTC scholarship in high school
which demands not only workouts but classes, labs, and summer
camps.
Bruhl devotes one class per quarter to military science. Past
classes have included land navigation, and leadership. This quarter
her two-hour Thursday class will focus on military history, a
subject that does not thoroughly thrill her.
Despite the slight disinterest in this subject, Captain Carl
Kimball, a military science professor who taught Bruhl in three of
her past military science classes, describes her as a very good
student who "doesn’t arrive late or chatter in the back."
Kimball says that a large part of ROTC training concentrates on
developing leadership skills, which he says Bruhl has mastered.
"Bruhl has the maturity level of a 30-year-old," he begins. "She
is professional and courteous – good qualities for a leader."
Outside of classes and workouts, Bruhl is also required to take
labs on the weekends and attend camps during the summer.
"In one lab we went to the Angeles National Forest to learn land
navigation," Bruhl said.
These labs and all the military science classes are the
preparation for an advanced camp next summer that Bruhl will be
participating in. The five-week camp will encompass strenuous
physical expectations as well as a lot of the information she has
learned over her three years with the ROTC.
With so much expected from her in just one area, Bruhl has not
only succeeded, but has surpassed expectations.
"She has risen to the top of the class," Kimball said., adding
that there are only about 20 percent females in the ROTC program.
"She is one of the top cadets out of everyone."
Not only does Bruhl get a break on tuition costs because of her
ROTC scholarship, but her living expenses are considerably less
too. Bruhl is currently in her second year as a Resident Assistant
(RA) for Saxon Suites.
She explains that before the school year begins, all of the RAs
have to go through a lot of training.
"We go through three weeks of training from fire safety to
earthquake preparedness," she said. "We go through different
traumas."
Bruhl also learned about the emotional traumas that can occur
while living in the dorms. "I learned about gender, cultural,
ethnic, and gay and lesbian issues," Bruhl said. "It was really
beneficial to me."
As an RA, Bruhl is on duty one night a week from 7 pm until 7
am. A typical night involves three rounds around Saxon with the
Community Service Officer, the CSO, to make sure that there aren’t
any problems or complaints.
Bruhl says she often likes to use this time to meet with her
residents to do any counseling or just to check up.
Although her shift is 12 hours long, Bruhl explains that she
only has to keep the radio on until midnight, and if any
emergencies happen after that she will receive a phone call.
Because of Saxon’s lenient policies, Bruhl feels that her
position as an RA lacks the duty of a policeman, a misconception
some people have about RAs.
"My job is in the position of a role model," she said. Although
she is required to enforce the few rules there are, she sees
herself as a communication builder, a resource, and a
programmer.
Bruhl must plan four programs a quarter, two that are
educational, one personal, and one social. Past programs have have
included dating violence awareness and a camping trip to San
Onofre. This year she plans to accompany her 90 residents to
Mammoth.
As the RA for more residents than any other RA in Saxon, her
personality shines through.
"Carrie is pretty fabulous. She goes above and beyond," says
Dawn Bond, the Resident Director for Saxon Suites. "She is
responsible for the most residents, and she bought each of them a
welcome mat at the beginning of the year."
Not only is she gracious, but Bond feels she can really be
described as a "people person."
"She connects with people and is really understanding," Bond
said. "All the things we want in an RA, she is."
Bruhl’s time pie is sliced with yet another commitment: Bruin
Partners, a community organization designed to mentor and tutor
inner-city kids.
"It was really good to get involved freshman year," she said.
She mentions that with the size of campus and the amount of people
at UCLA, it can be easy to feel lost, but Bruin Partners really
helped in giving her a certain amount of direction. "It makes you
feel like part of a group."
This year her duties have expanded with the organization. After
a four-hour organic chemistry lab on Tuesday night, Bruhl attends
an hour meeting to discuss current issues with Bruin Partners and
to figure out her duties will be for the next week.
As volunteer relations director, "I work on fundraising,
scheduling, and planning events," Bruhl says.
Bruhl likes to devote most of Tuesday to Bruin Partners. After
rising around 8a.m., she is free to run errands, make phone calls,
post flyers, and plan programs.
But it isn’t until Thursday afternoon, after her military
history class, that she actually gets to spend time with her
student. As director, she is responsible for driving the van to
Culver City where a few of Marina’s Middle School students receive
tutoring.
For the entirety of her time with Bruin Partners , she has
mentored one particular student through what might have been an
impressionable time of his life.
"I have been with the same student for three years," Bruhl says
of Eric Salas, a 12-year-old Marina Middle School Student. "With
Eric, I really have a purpose. I have had a part in keeping him out
of gangs."
The special friendship with Eric has influenced Bruhl as well.
She acknowledges that there is a lot of self gratification in
helping people.
"It makes me feel so good, I don’t know how else to explain it,"
she said. "It’s also good to interact with someone of a different
race, background and lifestyle."
Between ROTC, her RA job, and Bruin Partners, Bruhl manages to
squeeze in a writing position with FEM, UCLA’s feminist
newsmagazine.
Working with the sports/fitness/health section, Bruhl tackled
the issue of body image last quarter and plans to write on vitamins
that improve sex this quarter.
Andrea Atkinson, Bruhl’s FEM editor, friend, and fellow RA at
Saxon, believes that Bruhl writes for FEM for the right
reasons.
"She writes for FEM because she loves it," she said, adding that
women’s empowerment appears to be Bruhl’s focus.
So how does this wonder woman do it all with classes like
organic chemistry, military history, psychology, and women’s
studies?
"I have a wonderful support system," Bruhl said. "My parents are
very proud of me. I have wonderful friends that support me and I
live by my planner."
Yet for all her great planning Bruhl does express that problems
can come up.
"This weekend there is a retreat for RAs and an ROTC lab on
Saturday," Bruhl said.
She is planning on applying for the position of assistant
resident director for next year, so the RA retreat is important.
But she has the commitment to ROTC too. Her solution: "I’ll talk to
my ROTC counselor and see what we can do."
The only thing that might suffer a little bit with such a
schedule is Bruhl herself.
"I sleep very little and sometimes I have to try to schedule in
a social life," she said. "I don’t take enough time for
myself."
She also admits to drinking a lot of coffee and not being too
successful with romantic relationships.
But these things seem to bother Bruhl very little.
"I’m passionate about everything I do," she said. "There is
always more stuff I want to do."
So what else can Bruhl possibly accomplish while here at UCLA?
Well she has a few things in mind.
Currently Bruhl is working with a doctor at the UCLA Medical
Center to begin a program in which she will be researching the
effects of exercise and nutrition on cancer.
In August, she will take the MCAT and then travel to Costa Rica
to volunteer in a hospital.
And of course there is the grueling five-week ROTC advanced camp
that she will be required to go to.
Overall, Bruhl believes that more is better. She, has found that
all of her activities have paid off.
"I have really enjoyed UCLA," she said. "At the expense of
getting into medical school, I want to experience everything."
MICHAEL ROSS WACHT
Carrie Brunel matches the men in her ROTC training push-up for
push-up. Brunel’s four-year ROTC scholarship requires her time in
various classes, labs and camps above and beyond rigorous
workouts.
CHARLES KUO
Front pages of the newsmagazine FEM, for which she is a writer,
adorn Carrie’s closet as she goes over paperwork in preparation for
an RA meeting.
CHARLES KUO
Carrie talks about school and life over lunch with sixth-graders
Shawn Sanchez (right) and Eric Salas as part of mentoring for Bruin
Partners.
CHARLES KUO
Carrie goes on a round with CSO Brad Stein as part of her duties
as an RA.