Student Voices – Warren College

Read Michelle's account of her experiences as a member of Warren College.

Note: In addition to reading Michelle's description of student life in Warren College, you can also link to other Student Voices to learn about the rest of UCSD's Six Colleges.

 I was so excited to come to college. It's like beginning my life again. I wanted to go to a UC campus in Southern California based on the weather. I love the beach. The UCSD campus is beautiful, and the people are very friendly. I graduated from Esperanza High School in Yorba Linda. I'm an Engineering Science major, and academic-wise, Engineering's a huge program here.

"Pick the college that suits you"

I like the six colleges because UCSD's so big. Having a smaller college makes it easier to meet people. You can pick the college that suits you. I love the Warren housing. I'm living in an apartment this year. Four of us have been together from the beginning, and we're all different, but we all get along. I love it that way.

Programming at Warren

I'm the treasurer of Programming at Warren. We put on social events and get the whole college out. We put on a Haunted House at Halloween. I was in the "dot room" last year. The room has dots on the walls and a black light and fog machine. I put little dots on me so I blended into the walls. People ran right into me not knowing I was there. We also put on study breaks at finals time and activities for each holiday. We'll have a barbecue at the end of the year with a band and dunk tanks.

"Imagineer"

I liked math in high school, but I didn't want to be a teacher or accountant, so I decided to try engineering. So far I love it. In one class we built a robot. That class took so much time, but it's been my favorite so far because of everything I learned. There was a team competition with the robots. They had to pull ping-pong balls out of a trough while trying to keep the other robots away from the trough.

Engineering Science is similar to Mechanical Engineering with broader classes. I'm still looking at what I'll be doing. I'd really like to work for Disneyland as an Imagineer. It's very competitive. I work at Disneyland now as a seasonal employee. I love it and go there all the time.

Getting outdoors

Last year I started surfing down at La Jolla Shores. Campus Crusade for Christ has a surf club on Saturday mornings. My roommate's learning, too. The waves have been really big lately. Some people were so excited, but I was like, "I'm too scared to go." And my roommates and a boys' suite joined together in co-ed intramural softball. There's a lot of stuff to do here in San Diego, which makes it really appealing. I also like to go shopping downtown.

Making a difference

I joined the AS (Associated Students) Women's Commission as the treasurer. We put on the campus "Take Back the Night" every year. We also do awareness campaigns — this year the issue will be AIDS.

I'm in Chi Omega Sorority. The girls are amazing and really sweet. There are 80 of us. We get involved in lots of activities. We put on a tug-of-war to support the Make a Wish Foundation. We've made enough money now that we can fund the granting of a wish and participate in giving it to the child.

We socialize with the fraternities. For instance, we came up with a dance and songs to serenade them so we can get to know them.

"It's all about balance"

It's all about balance here. You've gotta figure out how much time to put into each activity. There's a lot of work to do for my classes. In my sorority we have study hours, and you have to keep a certain GPA to stay in it.

Getting out and getting involved keeps me on top of everything. I'm a lot happier and know more people on campus. It even makes me more driven to do my work.

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