Daily Bruin – Page 10

UCLA school of public health establishes new Center for Healthcare Management

A new center at UCLA aims to explore the management of health care organizations.

The UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health launched its Center for Healthcare Management on June 24, according to a press release. The center will serve as a home for anyone interested in learning how to manage health care centers, from graduate students to seasoned academics and medical practitioners, said Laura Erskine, the center’s director.

Health care management involves combining business skills and knowledge with the unique attributes of the health care industry, said Leah Vriesman, UCLA’s director of Executive Programs in Health Policy & Management and an adjunct associate professor at Fielding.

“The health care industry operates on very different principles than general business and so our graduate students, and potentially undergrad (students), need to have an understanding of the industry and the context in which they’re entering.” Vriesman said.

The center is intended to create a multidisciplinary space for faculty from different schools within the graduate institution, Vriesman said. It will also complement the Fielding school’s Center for Health Policy Research, she added.

“The goal is one, to create a home for collaboration inside UCLA (with) disparate faculty, but also to create a space where health care managers and professionals interact with scholars and push the field forward (so) it’s not just theoretical (and) research-based.” Vriesman said.

Richard Sinaiko, one of the center’s donors and an adjunct associate professor at Fielding, graduated from the school in 1977 and has worked in health care management since.

Sinaiko hopes the center can build relationships with both medical and nonmedical institutions across campus.

“(We) will have affiliations with, for instance, faculty in the law school, medical school, business school,” he said “We can get a really broad-based education experience for the students and exposure to all these different disciplines.”

These multidisciplinary relationships will help draw attention to the school and program on a national level while continuing to attract students, Sinaiko said.

Erskine said the center is currently virtual, with hopes to eventually establish a physical presence.

“In its initial phases, the center is sort of held together by the people who participate in it,” Erskine said. “Some of our communication will be through our website, some of our communication will be in events.”

The center will become the new host of the Paul Torrens Health Forum at UCLA, an established monthly gathering during which practitioners and academics come together to discuss relevant public health issues.

Like the center itself, these panels are interdisciplinary in nature, Erskine said.

“We may have academics, we may have physicians, we may have engineers, we may have, you know, people who are in administrative roles,” Erskine said “It just really depends on what the topic is.”

The center also plans to host an annual health care-based case competition.

“It’s a format that allows students who are studying health care management to come together to address a challenge,” Erskine said “Participating in a case competition really allows students to put into practice a lot of the knowledge that they gained during their coursework, they’re addressing a real problem that a real institution is facing.”

Sinaiko said his career experience led him to believe that graduate education in the area of health care management is becoming increasingly important.

“Our health care system is incredibly complex,” Sinaiko said. “If you have any interest in being involved in it, having this kind of education is crucial.”

UC Board of Regents appoints new chair for 2019-2020 term

A former state assemblyman will serve as the new chair of the University of California Board of Regents, according to a University press release July 8.

John Pérez, who was elected as the new chair by the board during its May meeting, will serve as chair of the board for one year. In that time, he will also serve as chair of the governance committee and a member of all other standing committees. The governance committee provides direction and oversight for the board.

Pérez was appointed to the board in 2014. He was previously elected to the California State Assembly in 2008 as a representative for Downtown Los Angeles and parts of East LA, and also served as the speaker of the Assembly from 2010 to 2014.

During his time in the California State Assembly, Pérez worked on issues such as ending California’s era of chronic budget deficits and making higher education more affordable and accessible for students, according to the UC.

Pérez also helped pass a modified version of the Middle Class Scholarship Act in 2013, which provided tuition relief to almost 100,000 California State University and UC students.

Pérez’s term started July 1.

Involvement of Spirit Squad director in incidents with donor began prior to 2018

This post was updated July 15 at 9:57 a.m.

Members of the UCLA dance team had seen it before.

A 76-year-old man offering them drinks, his hand resting on their legs as they politely declined, and his voice calling after them as they fled the event to hide.

And they had reported it to their director, Mollie Vehling.

In November, six team members found themselves sitting with donor Alan Robbins at a Las Vegas show. Almost exactly a year earlier, members of the Spirit Squad fled from a dinner hosted by Robbins to escape the donor’s persistent urges that they accompany him to a club.

This is the same Robbins who was sentenced to five years in prison for bribery, extortion and tax evasion in 1992, and the same Robbins who had been accused and acquitted of having sex with two 16-year-old girls in 1978 and 1979.

This time, the accounts of the team members got back to UCLA administrators, who placed Vehling on leave in December to launch a Title IX investigation that led to Vehling’s dismissal May 17.

The 2018 Las Vegas show sparked the investigation, but according to a dance member who asked to remain anonymous, the show was not an isolated incident.

“It’s just the exact same pattern,” the dance team member said.

Robbins, who said he started donating to the Spirit Squad over 15 years ago, said he has regularly hosted dinners for the team at the nicest restaurant in the city they’re bothin. He said sometimes he attended the dinner and sometimes he just left his credit card.

Robbins said a team director had always been present at each dinner.

“I don’t recall any dinner where it was just the Spirit Squad members,” he said. “Either (Vehling) was there or someone else would be who was traveling with the team.”

During the 2018 Las Vegas trip, the dance team member said the team’s captain told the squad, on behalf of Vehling, that Robbins had bought tickets to a show and the dancers would have to attend without their director. The show, called “Absinthe,” is known for its risqué content and interactions with audience members.

But the dance team member said it was more than the show that made the six team members apprehensive to accompany Robbins to the show.

“It wasn’t about even the content of the show, which was inappropriate; it was that we were alone in Vegas with (Robbins),” she said. “The biggest thing that was uncomfortable was that we did not have an adult with us. And, you know, his history.”

The dance team member said she was seated next to Robbins during the show and saw the 76-year-old watch her and her teammates react to the performers’ vulgar comments.

Robbins said a comic in the show made a number of insensitive jokes in his performance and at the expense of the dance team members, leading Robbins to write a letter to Caesars Palace to report the show.

“It was a horrible show,” Robbins said. “I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody.”

The ex-senator said he has invited the entire Spirit Squad to a Las Vegas show of the team’s choice every year for the past dozen years, but in November, there were limited options.

Robbins said the show was the only one that would fit into their schedules.

The dancer said she and her team members attempted to leave the show before it ended because they felt uncomfortable, but Robbins was reluctant to let them go. He placed his hand on the dance team member’s leg as she left and then followed the six women out of the crowd, according to the dance team member.

“At that point, people were really emotional, upset and scared,” she said. “We actually had to run inside the hotel and duck into a girls’ bathroom to basically hide and (wait) for him to leave.”

Robbins said he left the show with the Spirit Squad because they were appalled by the content of the show.

The dance team member said the events of the night were relayed to Vehling, who addressed the squad at its football game the next day. Even then, the dance team member said Vehling didn’t address Robbins’ behavior or the team members’ discomfort.

“(Vehling) just said that we had hurt (Robbins’) feelings, that he was upset,” the dance team member said. “There was no apology or regard for what had happened to us.”

But the Spirit Squad’s stories were heard and the Title IX investigation started in December. Members of the team were asked to share their experiences with Vehling, and the evidence led to the director’s dismissal.

“UCLA fully supports and is grateful to current Spirit Squad members and coaches who bravely described their own experiences and complied with University policy in bringing these issues forward,” said Tod Tamberg, a UCLA spokesperson, in an email statement.

However, Vehling stated in an email that she is in the process of appealing the decision and denies all the allegations against her.

Robbins said he has heard positive reviews of Vehling from many people the former director has coached.

“I cannot tell you how many Spirit Squad members have told me they consider her their UCLA mom,” Robbins said. “She puts in long hours and lots of members of the Spirit Squad have told me how important she is to their life.”

In response to Vehling’s email, UCLA alumnus Mathew Satuloff created a petition for the director’s reinstatement, which includes a statement in defense of Vehling and has garnered almost 1,000 signatures as of July 14.

In his petition, Satuloff praised Vehling’s leadership and character, before going on to accuse the Alumni Association, which previously oversaw the Spirit Squad, of prioritizing the interests of donors and not properly disclosing the association’s practices.

Some of the claims Satuloff made in his petition have not been verified.

“I wrote the petition because I knew that I trusted (Vehling), … but I couldn’t get any facts, so I had to imagine a lot of the facts,” Satuloff said. “I put some things in there that I knew were guesses – they were good guesses, but they were guesses.”

Satuloff said one of his guesses was accusing the Alumni Association of targeting Vehling as a “fall guy,” though he had heard that the organization was pushing her to focus more on donors than she wanted to.

One example of this, Satuloff said, is the Spirit Squad spending more time at the donor tent during football games instead of interacting with fans. The dance team member also said she has seen Vehling begin favoring the interests of donors over those of team members.

“As my time went on, it became clear that I don’t think (Vehling) had our best interests at heart,” the dance team member said.

But Satuloff said he believes the push to appease donors came from the Alumni Association, not Vehling herself. He said Vehling, as the Spirit Squad director, was never in a position to question these decisions involving donors.

Satuloff wrote the petition prior to the Orange County Register’s report of the Las Vegas incident that led to the Title IX investigation. However, the alumnus said he remains in support of Vehling.

“I do think it’s a huge problem that (Robbins) was allowed to have this contact and what ended up happening was this show, … but I don’t see how it’s (Vehling) because – not to diminish her – but she is middle management,” Satuloff said. “There’s no question this is bad – that’s not the debate I have. The debate I have is: Is the badness being laid at the right person?”

While the Alumni Association may choose its list of donors, Robbins said he coordinates all his dinners and shows with the Spirit Squad through Vehling.

“It’s not directly through (the squad), it’s through (Vehling),” Robbins said. “She tells me what show they’d like to see and I buy the tickets.”

The dance team member, however, said she believes it was in Vehling’s control to take action and protect the team from uncomfortable interactions with donors.

“(Vehling) was the head of our program and she absolutely could have said, ‘No, we’re not going to the show,’” the dance team member said. “She could have made the situation better after it happened. She definitely had the power to change the relationship with these people.”

But Satuloff and almost 1,000 other people believe these weren’t Vehling’s decisions to make – they were the Alumni Association’s.

In an email written by Vehling addressing her dismissal, she asked she not be contacted for comment on the matter. The Alumni Association declined to comment on the matter past the official UCLA statement.

“The University is prohibited by the right of privacy held by employees from providing information while such processes are pending,” Tamberg said. “We recognize that some may question the University’s decisions, but the well-being of our students is the university’s top priority.”

The ongoing investigation may take up to a year from now to complete, according to Tamberg’s statement.

UC settles for millions after allegations against former UCLA doctor James Heaps

The University of California paid millions in settlements in response to allegations raised against former UCLA doctor James Heaps.

In total, the UC paid about $3.5 million in settlements regarding allegations against Heaps, according to public records obtained by the Daily Bruin. Tracy Green, Heaps’ attorney, said Heaps did not have any input in either case, and maintains that he never did anything improper.

The University agreed to pay $1,295,000 in a March settlement, in which a former UCLA nurse practitioner alleged sexual harassment by Heaps and retaliation against her for participating in an investigation about him.

Heaps is currently facing criminal charges for two counts of sexual battery and one count of sexual exploitation by a physician. He has plead not guilty to all charges. He is also facing multiple civil lawsuits from women who have made allegations against him, and denies any wrongdoing.

Green said Heaps had no input into that settlement involving the nurse practitioner and said he did not have a comment on it. She added he did not believe he was harassing or creating a hostile work environment.

The UC also agreed to pay $2,250,000 in a June settlement, in which a woman alleged Heaps sexually assaulted her during an examination in February 2018. In this settlement, regents agreed UCLA Health President Johnese Spisso will meet with the patient on or before Aug. 15.

During the meeting, Spisso will give the patient an opportunity to tell her story, offer an apology on behalf of the regents, explain the corrective actions of the regents, and extend an offer to invite recommendations for UC policies.

In both settlements, the University agreed to pay the money to the attorneys representing the women and other terms without assuming liability for the allegations made. In the case of the nurse practitioner, the University also reserved the right to continue investigating her complaint.

Green said she thinks these two settlements are very different cases, since she thinks the one involving the nurse practitioner was more of a personnel matter, compared to allegations of sexual assault against Heaps.

Green also said Heaps thought the settlement for the alleged sexual assault was a mistake and refused to contribute any money toward the payment.

She added UCLA has reported to the medical board that Heaps’ position was not terminated due to sexual misconduct with a patient.

A UCLA Health spokesperson said in an email statement regarding the settlements that the University evaluates all claims based on their individual circumstances and defenses.

“The decision to settle was made after the investigation and evaluation of available information by the University,” the statement said.

John Manly, a sexual harassment attorney who has filed two civil suits and is representing over 50 alleged victims of Heaps, said he believes the University made a conscious decision to not inform patients about settlements involving allegations against Heaps.

“At the highest levels, not only of UCLA, but the UC system, there was an effort to conceal this from his victims,” Manly said.

The UCLA Title IX office opened an investigation into Heaps on Dec. 22, 2017, which ultimately found sufficient evidence he violated University policy on sexual violence and harassment for retaliation.

UCLA first made a public statement on the Title IX investigation June 10, over a year after the investigation began.

The investigation began in response to a patient complaint stating Heaps touched her for reasons that were not medically necessary during a visit and asked her inappropriate questions. Over the course of the investigation, the office was also made aware of complaints from 2014 and 2015.

A preliminary assessment of the investigation stated his actions in regard to the patient examination must be further reviewed by UCLA medical staff to determine if his actions were medically necessary.

However, an investigative review found evidence Heaps retaliated against a now former UCLA employee by reaching out to her repeatedly in regard to the investigation.

The former employee said she expressed her discomfort to Heaps about his conduct, according to a redacted report included in the public records.

Green said the university did not provide Heaps guidelines as to how to conduct himself during the investigation. She also said Heaps had actually reached out to her in order to ask if she was okay.

Green said Heaps also expressed his personal opinion about allegations made against him to the former employee, but did not realize it was against the Title IX investigation rules to do so.

“He wasn’t trying to hide anything, he’s not telling her what to say, he just said, ‘It just seems ridiculous,’” Green said. “He didn’t even know that that was kind of part of something that he shouldn’t even mention.”

Heaps completed UC Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Prevention Training on July 2014 and Feburary 2016, according to an investigative review included in the public records.

UC policy prohibits retaliation against someone for reporting or participating in an investigation and related processes.

Although the investigation into Heaps began in December 2017, it was not completed until some time after his appointment was terminated. Heaps was notified his contract would not be renewed in April 2018 and he retired in June of the same year.

Green said she does not believe UCLA treated Heaps fairly following his termination.

“One of the things that may come out of this as a lawsuit from Dr. Heaps against UCLA for the way they handled it and failed to follow their own rules, which actually ended up hurting Dr. Heaps.”

Manly said UCLA Health failed to properly conduct an investigation into a 2014 complaint one of his clients made. He also said the university did not make it a requirement to report all cases to the Title IX office until 2016.

“You know, when you have a physician engaging in this kind of behavior over time, it’s not just a symptom of a physician who’s engaged in severe misconduct, it’s a symptom of a culture that would tolerate it,” Manly said.

Heaps is scheduled to appear in court again July 30.

Op-ed: The physical sciences curriculum at UCLA needs to be revamped

Let’s get straight to the punchline: UCLA needs to change how the physical sciences are taught.

Physical science courses have significantly higher fail rates than other courses, according to a 2015 report to UCLA’s executive vice chancellor and provost on enhancing student success. They also have large disparities in achievement between underrepresented minority students and non-underrepresented minority students.

Many of you may think to blame yourselves, but hold that thought. For the fall 2018 enrolled freshman profiles, the 25th percentile had a 1280 SAT score and 3.85 GPA, while the 75th percentile had a 1510 SAT score and 4.00 GPA, according to UCLA Undergraduate Admissions statistics from 2018.

Although SAT scores and GPA don’t tell the entire story, it’s safe to conclude that students enrolled at UCLA are bright and hardworking individuals, so they are capable of succeeding in the physical sciences.

But we consistently see high fail rates. If capable UCLA students struggle to succeed in these courses, there must be other factors at play. Those factors are the UCLA system itself, the instructors and other academic support networks. Although UCLA has responsibilities to different stakeholders, all with different goals and requirements, there is also a responsibility to our students who were promised an education and the resources they need to succeed.

Physical science classes are unique in the level of engagement they require – unlike other disciplines, it is more difficult to learn in the absence of a hands-on approach. However, physical science professors often rely on lecturing, making students passive learners. In order to effectively teach these courses, professors must reconsider the level of student engagement inside the classroom in order to create an adaptive and dynamic learning process.

In addition, these courses tend to heavily curve grades, pitting students against one another and degrading the supportive learning community that could – and should – exist in our classrooms.

Physical science disciplines also have particularly high stakes because one bad class can harm a student’s entire college career. Ideas in science courses often build on one another, so when students do not master material in classes and are forced to move on to more advanced material, their knowledge gaps become wider. Eventually, they hit a wall.

For example, a student may get a 60% in a physics class, but could receive a B due to the curve. However, the student is made to move on to the next physics class, even though the exam identified that the student did not master certain concepts. The system allows knowledge gaps to compound, ultimately inclining students to frustratingly leave the major.

This story probably sounds familiar. In Physics 88: “Lower-Division Seminar: Current Topics in Physics,” an education seminar that was offered spring quarter, we were part of a group of students who cherish STEM education. Within this group, we shared stories about our experiences in STEM education, ranging from computer science to biology and beyond. This group of students included UCLA undergraduates as well as graduates from a diverse collection of universities and colleges ranging from liberal arts to research-based.

Nearly all of the students felt left behind in courses, whether it be from a professor lecturing with no regard to student understanding or from a professor who incorporated material barely covered in class.

The problem compounds if students continue to graduate school, where the baseline expectations for prior knowledge are even more varied and unclear. As graduate student teaching assistants, we have seen what a wide range of preparation and background knowledge exists in UCLA students, even if they all passed their prerequisite courses. These individual differences can result in major knowledge gaps that affect student success in the future.

Students in STEM are not strangers to discouragement, but it is the responsibility of the university and its educators to ensure that our students feel more confident in their studies.

An ideal solution would allow students to learn at their own pace and take exams once they feel prepared. However, such a drastic change in course structure is unlikely and impractical in the short term.

A more tractable plan of action would be to improve and refine learning outcomes in STEM courses, making the expectation of mastery clear from the start. Professors must start with learning outcomes to help to align all lectures and class activities, making them purposeful and cohesive.

Instructors also need to understand and implement other effective pedagogy when planning their classes, relying on education research and evidence-based practices to create an inclusive classroom for all their students.

As opposed to listing prerequisite courses, departments should focus on compiling lists of topics students must be familiar with – this would ensure more specificity and would allow students to review what is necessary.

Meanwhile, online resources such as Khan Academy or other massively open online courses, would provide students with a wealth of knowledge, verified by their professor. For upper-division courses that aren’t covered by accessible massively open online courses, departments could work with learning assistants and TAs to develop libraries of video content aimed at helping students master specific topics. Directing students to the right resources would allow them to better take command of their learning and reduce moments when they feel helpless.

Until STEM courses themselves can be redesigned to be more cohesive and inclusive, small steps will lead the way toward more substantial academic improvement.

Ultimately, no student should leave the classroom due to a lack of support.

Lewis is an astronomy and astrophysics Ph.D. student. Marcinik is a physics Ph.D. student. Desai is a rising third-year physics student.

Editorial: Spirit Squad investigation reveals how UCLA prioritizes donations over students

The single most important role of any university should be to protect its students.

But UCLA proved it was willing to sacrifice that duty for a couple extra donations.

UCLA removed Mollie Vehling, the former UCLA Spirit Squad director, from her position May 17 following a Title IX investigation for inviting members of the Spirit Squad to a sexually explicit Las Vegas show with UCLA alumnus and major donor Alan Robbins. Robbins bought tickets to the show for six members of the team, which Vehling allegedly forced them to go to.

During the investigation, a dance team member said she felt Vehling had coerced them into spending time with Robbins, who had made them uncomfortable.

The influence Robbins waved over Vehling and the students on her team speaks to a troubling pattern of undue donor power at UCLA. Clearly, Robbins abused his position as an individual, but it is the university’s responsibility to evaluate a system in which he could leverage his donations for influence.

Vehling is to blame for sacrificing student safety in an attempt to cozy up to donors. But her removal is also a distraction from a bigger issue: the ease with which UCLA turned a blind eye to the behavior of a major booster like Robbins. Whether it be Vehling or the next coach, donations continue to carry enough influence to negatively affect both students and the faculty that are hired to support them.

Ultimately, UCLA maintains a system in which donations are valued over students. And with a systemic lack of oversight, donors won’t be held accountable anytime soon.

The commitment to students lies somewhere deep in UCLA’s heart – if it didn’t, the university wouldn’t be fundraising for scholarships or facilities. But UCLA has made it clear that it’s willing to sacrifice more than just the True Bruin Values if it means extra income.

And this isn’t the first time it’s done so.

While the university sits perched between inconsistent state funding and a national battle for prestige, the debate over its increasingly privatized funding system rages.

Whether it be David Geffen gracing campus with yet another building, scholarship funding being left in the dust or donations outright influencing admissions at the UCLA School of Dentistry, to say there’s a pattern would be an understatement.

And though it may come as a surprise to the university, there are caveats to accepting money as a public institution – especially from someone like Robbins.

A former state senator, Robbins resigned prior to serving five years in prison for tax evasion, bribery and extortion in 1992. A decade before, he was charged and acquitted of having sexual relations with minors.

Robbins’ behavior with the Spirit Squad members was deeply disturbing, but it merely unveiled the potential for damage in a consistently exploitative system.

That is not to say the university shouldn’t accept donations from anyone without a pristine background. Like most public schools, UCLA isn’t one to turn away money – nor should it. But when that money jeopardizes the safety of its students, the university must realize greater responsibility in a system so easily manipulated by its desire for donations.

Private funding and basic culpability for those providing it are not mutually exclusive.

But it seems UCLA hasn’t figured that out yet.

Alumnus guides students through fast-paced set design in summer theater season

Oscar Escobedo and a crew of six students had three hours to strike the set of “H.M.S. Pinafore” before an audience came for a showing of “Crazy for You” on the same stage.

This summer, the alumnus is working as the scenic designer for the College Light Opera Company’s 51st festival season, lasting through Aug. 24 in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Escobedo is designing and building the sets for nine musicals and operas as the company premieres a new show each week throughout the summer, he said. On top of the time crunch, he’s also leading a team of students to teach them the various elements of building a set, from painting techniques to using the basic tools necessary to craft the scenery.

“We’re constantly building for the next show, designing for the show three shows ahead. It’s a constant overlapping,” Escobedo said.

CLOC opens a new show in its season every Tuesday night for a run that lasts through the following Saturday. The company’s fast-paced schedule requires the crew to be about halfway done preparing the costumes and set for the next week’s show a week in advance, said Chloe Moore, the costume designer for the first five shows of this season.

“You really need to be firing on all cylinders when it comes to collaborating, designing, communicating to your director, but more importantly managing the teams that you’re given,” Moore said.

As the scenic director for the season, Escobedo is not only constantly collaborating with those around him, but he said he must always consider the best way to visually tell a story. Scenic design relies on figuring out how to best supplement the narrative of the shows through physicality and aesthetic, he said, as opposed to the musical, lyrical or linguistic elements written into a show’s libretto or score.

“I think what a lot of people don’t understand about what scenic design is (is that) it’s our way of physically telling a story,” he said. “We are helping the story be told through physical location (and) physical metaphors.”

As he begins working on each show, Escobedo said he looks at a script and works with the director and other collaborators like the costume designers to determine just what their aesthetic vision is for the show. Escobedo said he keeps an eye out for metaphors and symbols that he can use on stage to help further the story. For example, in “Knickerbocker Holiday,” one of the shows in CLOC’s rotation, the set requires a noose – a symbol that Escobedo said the show uses to signify that the show deals with themes of death.

Before he arrived in Massachusetts, Escobedo said he had already designed the sets for the first three shows of the season. Now, he has completed designs for the entire season and is working with his team of students to actually build them in the scenic shop and get them set up on stage, ready for an audience.

While most of his students are majoring in theater, Escobedo said they are generally quite new to scenic design. As a result, he’s had to teach them different techniques such as how to use power tools and how to utilize quick painting techniques that can be used to produce an illusion of creating wood or rust.

Sophia Baramidze, the incoming costume designer for the final half of the festival season, said this is her first time directly overseeing a crew on such a large scale. Baramidze anticipates that instructing a group of students with varying levels of experience with costume design will be a particularly demanding but gratifying task.

“It’s really rewarding to see people getting excited to learn a new skill that they haven’t developed before or haven’t had the chance to experience,” Baramidze said.

On the other hand, Moore said that, because of her prior experience working as a teaching assistant, the aspect of teaching students isn’t particularly new to her. However, as a TA, she’s used to working with students who are more familiar with costume designing. At CLOC, she said she’s had to work to make sure that she’s explaining everything as clearly as possible, since some members of the crew had little to no prior experience with the skill coming into the theater company.

Moore said it’s been important to work on finding a balance to make sure the students are learning as much as they can about the field while also putting on high-quality theater. Moore and Escobedo both said their experiences thus far in the rapid-fire environment of CLOC have allowed them to form tight-knit bonds with their teams – but on top of that, Escobedo said he and his collaborators are picking up new skills every day they work together.

“We’re all doing things out of our comfort zone, and something that a lot of my students and a lot of my collaborators say is, ‘Well, I learned about 17 things today, at least,’” Escobedo said.