Graduating film student doubles as ROTC midshipman, hip-hop dancer

Shawn Semana barely had enough time to shower the morning of May 25. Samahang Modern dance rehearsal ended at 5 a.m., and he had to leave for ROTC 30 minutes later. The fourth-year film student’s schedule often looks similar on Wednesday mornings. He said although his commitments of film, dance and ROTC allow for little […]

For their final trick, senior members of MIST will graduate from UCLA

A student magician walked onto the Northwest Campus Auditorium stage with a bag full of newspaper clippings. He shook 10 clippings and the audience gasped as the pieces took the form of an unscathed issue of the Daily Bruin. The trick launched the 2015 annual show for UCLA’s Magic and Illusion Student Team, a student […]

Hollywood Bowl the next stage for graduate performing in ‘A Chorus Line’

Maggie Darago exhaled deeply with a timid smile as she rattled off her upcoming 10-day routine for “A Chorus Line” – a 10-hour dance and voice rehearsal, a drive home and a personal practice in her room before turning in for the night. Darago, a fourth-year theater student graduating in June, will perform in the […]

Jazz serves as common language for Thelonious Monk Institute graduates

Pianist Carmen Staaf said her favorite memory with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz was playing at the open-air El Badi Palace in Marrakech, Morocco. The Thelonious Monk Institute Ensemble is comprised of seven student musicians who were accepted into the graduate program in 2014 from a variety of musical backgrounds and age groups. They […]

Photographer Nolan Isozaki inspired by the pretty and the gritty

Nolan Isozaki clung to the side of a mountain, watching stones dislodged by his backpack tumble down 14,000 feet to the ground. Freezing wind whipped around him as the sun’s light faded over the Rocky Mountains, muffling the warning shouts of his friends in the valley below. Isozaki clasped his Fujifilm X20 camera with frozen […]

Carrying a love for comedy and theater beyond graduation

A young man with big-rimmed glasses, a beard and a naked baby doll told puns from center stage as the audience’s laughter grew. Fourth-year linguistics student Landen Baldwin said he tries to be lighthearted during any situation. He has pursued acting since the age of 7. However, it wasn’t until he played the Mad Hatter […]

Alumna showcases graduates’ individuality with custom cap toppers

Leanna Maaz embarks on a scavenger hunt every time she travels abroad. In each city she explores, she collects a souvenir that contains the name of the city and arranges the items in a scrapbook to document her journey. “For any restaurant I go to, I collect the menu, and I grab a napkin with […]