Over my college career I have gotten involved in many facets of the university life. I am currently serving as the treasurer of my fraternity for a second consecutive term. As treasurer, I have been successful in raising our chapter out of a considerable amount of debt. I was the vice president of Students with Entrepreneurial Talent Ambitions (SWETA) and am currently starting an organization on campus called the Students for Educational Equity, with the purpose of helping to bridge the educational achievement gap in America. Over the past three years, I have worked as an intern for Western Asset Management Company, the world's third largest trader of fixed assets.
On the surface, an amateur rugby player, an aspiring college student and a hitman may not have a lot in common. One could blow a game play, one may blow his chance to get into college and the last might just blow your head off. Yet these different roles represent the diverse spectrum of protagonists whose stories were told at the fourth edition of the Vietnamese International Film Festival (ViFF).
Shapan: Comedies are being churned out all the time in modern cinema, and why not? Laughter, after all, is the best medicine. Nowadays, it's tough to find a comedy that doesn't include at least one of the actors from the popular "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy." Of course, that film had little intellectual purpose, but it was the perfect laugh. Memorable characters, hilarious jokes and a story you didn't have to worry about keeping up with. Good times, right? Wrong.
In its first competitive year the UC Irvine Equestrian Team ranked 10th in Zone 8, Region 2 of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association. However, more exciting than the team's placement was the journey getting there.
As students, we've all had to write essays for classes that don't particularly interest us, seem irrelevant or simply don't fit into our busy schedules. But that's the life of a student; writing essays is just part of the routine. Or is it?
When the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) posted its annual report for 2008, the figures seemed promising for the county's central transportation agency. Despite sharp increases in the price of gasoline – or, perhaps, because of it – bus rider-ship reached an all-time high of nearly 69 million, a very decent figure for a county as car-obsessed as ours.
Many of us enjoyed or will enjoy our 21st birthdays by taking advantage of the lifted restrictions that come with the age. Many of us turn 21 in the center of our college years. That magic number allows us to enter the intimidating world of adulthood — the world of responsibility, accountability, unpredictability; an unpredictability of what the future entails that frightens us into a quarter-life or a sixth-life crisis. Just 19 days ago, Clayton Kershaw turned the mystical age of 21 and he had none of the aforementioned fears. He is second in the rotation for the National League West favorite Los Angeles Dodgers.
The greatest moment in sports history for me was on Oct. 2, 2004. Dodger stadium was at capacity and I sat within ear-shot of Barry Bonds down the left field line.
If there's one part of UC Irvine that makes me feel particularly spoiled, it's the Anteater Recreation Center (ARC). Not only does its recent remodel boast a brand-new weight room and equipment, but only at the ARC can you go swimming, get a massage, take a cooking class and climb a rock wall in the same afternoon. It's the nicest college athletics facility I've ever been to, and in my opinion even surpasses expensive private fitness clubs like Newport Beach's Equinox or the ritzy 24-Hour Fitness Ultra Sport.
While we see the best players in college sports coming from the top programs across the nation, many of the players in the professional ranks don't necessarily come from those schools. Pro Bowl wide receivers Chad Johnson and Steve Smith came from Santa Monica Community College, Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Ben Rothlisberger came from the University of Miami in Ohio and there are plenty more to be named. But the point is that athletes from schools that aren't as big as the Dukes or the North Carolinas or Ohio States, like the ones from UC Irvine, have as good a chance to make it to the Pros.
