Thursday, March 12, 1998
Guiding Light
PEOPLE: David Francisco, campus tour guide coordinator, gives
high schoolers
a taste of UCLA
By Rachel Munoz
Daily Bruin Staff
Out of Young Hall emerges a large group of high school students
with wide eyes and curious stares. Slowly, amongst their friends,
they gather around the assigned college students who will give them
their tour.
"How are you guys doing today?" one of the college students asks
with enthusiasm, pulling the group away from the building and into
an open area of south campus.
"Who here is interested in the sciences?" Only a few in the
front hear him, and most don’t even answer. And so it begins for
one of the morning’s campus tour guides, David Francisco.
He is the one in the front asking the questions, trying to
excite the 22 10th graders and teacher in front of him. As a campus
tour coordinator and fifth-year psychology student, also pursuing a
minor in accounting, this is how he spends many mornings at
UCLA.
But he isn’t discouraged. It is still early.
As the tour leaves south campus, the first stop is the inverted
fountain, where the high school students learn the eight clap. Some
know the clap from growing up in the UCLA tradition. Others only
give it a half-hearted attempt, anxious to see the rest of the
campus, or just uninterested.
After a quick explanation of the names and services of each
building, Francisco keeps up the pace, leading the students to the
steps of Schoenberg Hall.
Here he sits them down and gets to the nitty-gritty of what many
students would like to know before applying to UCLA.
Before he can get started, one international student is curious
about what majors UCLA has to offer. Her question is soon answered
as Francisco rattles off the five different schools at UCLA with
ease and describes the majors in each school.
He admits that the statistics are grim. Thirty thousand students
apply to UCLA every year and only 10,000 are accepted. But he
continues to encourage them with pointers on extra-curricular
activities, AP classes, and how to write a good essay.
"Don’t use big words in your essays," he advises. "Just be
yourself."
His girlfriend, Kim LaMagna, a fourth-year English student with
a minor in education, believes that Francisco has a good source for
his information on the application process.
"He gives good insight because his boss reviews the
applications," she said. "So he knows exactly what they are looking
for."
Now that the students have woken up a bit more, they drill
Francisco on all the aspects of getting into UCLA and preparing the
essay. When questions are sufficiently answered, the tour
continues.
Although Francisco walks backward throughout almost the entire
one-and-a-half hour tour, the pace is surprisingly quick. He makes
sure to keep the students interested, asking questions and
mentioning interesting aspects of the campus.
He points out Murphy Hall, the Law School, and then calls
attention to Perloff Plaza on the other side of the street asking,
"Do you recognize this plaza? This is where they filmed Higher
Learning."
Passing LuValle, the students are impressed with the different
kinds of food available – especially Taco Bell. One guy exclaims he
would eat there all the time.
They are even more impressed when they hear that they don’t have
to go to the same classes everyday, and that they can basically
make their own schedule.
Traveling through the Franklin Murphy Sculpture Garden,
Francisco mentions that Thursday night is a big party night at UCLA
and many students here adjust their schedules accordingly.
This news spreads like wildfire through the students, as their
imaginations wander to the days when they won’t have to report to
mom and dad.
Francisco gives them a minute to stop and look around while he
answers their questions. Then he dives into the the application
process for the School of Theater, Film and Television. Their eyes
widen when they hear the numbers of pages they must write for the
application.
One overanxious student insists that he can handle the required
10-page screenplay, poem, or essay because tonight he has to write
a five-page essay.
In the back of the crowd, three trendy girls discuss their fears
regarding how much they are going to have to write when they get to
college. But, a new fear soon takes over the discussion: what major
they will choose.
Soon the students are moving past the URL, Northern Lights and
find themselves in front of Royce. "What do you notice about this
building? Is there anything different about it," he asks.
After a few correct and incorrect guesses, Francisco finally
informs them of the difference: the width of the two top columns is
uneven.
The building was actually designed after a church in Milan.
"It’s modeled with the concept that only God can create
perfection," he said.
While Francisco focuses on Royce, three guys in the back with
matching beanies and wrap around sunglasses voice their concern
over when they will receive their next meal.
Before descending on the Janss steps, the students learn that
there are over 100 languages taught at UCLA and that the school has
more parking than the airport. Francisco also mentions that parts
of "The Nutty Professor" were filmed on these steps.
The group moves into Meyerhoff Plaza, the area of Bruin Walk
near Kerckhoff Hall. Students are impressed to learn that parts of
"Scream II" were filmed in this area.
As the tour continues in the direction of Pauley Pavilion, he
points out the James West Alumni Center and notes that there are
over 300,000 UCLA alumni.
It takes a few minutes but once the students get inside of
Pauley, most of them have found their way down the steps and onto
the basketball court with another tour in process.
One student and the teacher decide to take a break and find
themselves a seat.
After a few minutes of looking around, the tour winds down and
the students are led to the Bruin Bear.
Francisco determines how to end the tour by what the group seems
most interested in. For this group, he reiterated what they needed
to know to get into UCLA.
A round of applause is the signal that the tour has ended and
Francisco heads up Bruin Walk to grab a bite to eat at his usual
eatery, Taco Bell.
His favorite spot to eat with friends, affectionately known as
the Perch, is being occupied by another group for the day. A rally
against bombing Iraq is taking place so Francisco and friends have
to settle for another area of Bruin Walk.
The hour break comes to a close too soon and Francisco finds
himself heading back up to the same office in Murphy Hall that he
has been going to since April of 1996, when he was hired as a
campus tour guide. The rest of his day, until about 5 p.m., will be
spent in the office.
Though he has been with campus tours for almost two years,
Francisco has spent much of his time at UCLA doing other
things.
He worked with Project Share, a tutor and mentor program, for 10
quarters, seven of which he spent as director. He worked to
stabilize the program and looks back on it as a good
experience.
Francisco pledged Pi Kappa Alpha, the Pike fraternity, in the
fall of 1993 and worked as one of the two vice presidents for two
years.
"It’s ironic. If you join a fraternity people think that all you
do is party, but through the fraternity I joined the project," he
said.
When he isn’t tutoring kids or showing them around the campus,
Francisco likes to kick around a soccer ball and has always
participated in intramural soccer games.
This led to an obvious attraction to the new Los Angeles soccer
team, the Galaxy. Over a two-year period, he kept statistics for
the soccer team as an official scorekeeper.
But now he spends most of his time in the campus tour office,
where he knows he should be. His position as coordinator restricts
him to the duties of the office, but because of transitions in
hiring, Francisco happily finds himself out on campus showing the
sights and sounds of UCLA. He considers his job the best on
campus.
"People want these jobs because they are fun and you get to
interact with people," he said.
As one of three coordinators, for 19 hours a week, he is
responsible for running campus tours.
"Our tours are for students interested in attending UCLA,"
Francisco said, "and we deal primarily with high school groups."
However, last summer, he was able to give a tour to the new
chancellor, Albert Carnesale.
Apparently, he is doing a good job. In the midst of the hustle
and bustle of the busy office, his boss walks over and places an
evaluation on his desk.
"Thank you so much for the extra attention given to our
students," wrote Linda Muscarella of Arroyo Grande High School.
As a boss, Francisco also seems to be scoring a few points.
"Dave is a very fair and fun boss to work for," said Grant Gelberg,
a campus tour guide, fraternity brother, and a second-year
political science student.
Gelberg notes that Francisco not only has a lot of spirit but
makes sure that the tour groups leave UCLA with a good
impression.
"He is dedicated to showing how great of a place UCLA is to the
rest of Los Angeles and the country," Gelberg said.
Outside of tours, Francisco also handles extra staffing issues
and this year has worked a lot with the computers in the
office.
"My major contribution has been the computerized reservation
system," he said. After months of research and fixing problems, the
new system is not only working but has simplified the reservation
process.
A housing tour is also in the works. "The current tour only
shows campus," he said, "but in the future we will be taking them
into student rooms so they can get the whole experience."
Francisco will graduate at the end of this quarter but has
decided to continue to work spring quarter with campus tours.
After finishing at UCLA, Francisco has big plans. The Monday
after graduation he is leaving for a five-week vacation in Europe.
Then in September, his accounting minor will go to work for him at
the Arthur Anderson accounting firm, where one day he hopes to
become a junior partner.
Before Francisco leaves UCLA to travel and work, he has one last
dying wish. "I just want to say congratulations to the men’s soccer
team," he says with a grin.
DERRICK KUDO
David Francisco spends up to 19 hours each week in his office
coordinating campus tours.
AUDREY SHIOMI
Francisco, gives one of many tours of UCLA.