Each year, UCLA students enroll in classes to fulfill their major and general education requirements to prepare for graduation. However, most students also choose to enrich their college experience by participating in educational organizations including professional consulting clubs, business fraternities and undergraduate research groups. While these activities are great ways to gain real-world experience in specific fields, many of them require applications, interviews and have competitive acceptance rates with extensive time commitments. Luckily, for students who simply wish to get more involved on campus in fun ways, there are plenty of clubs that can be joined at any time of the year and are purely for fun!
UCLA Sketch Comedy
@uclasketch on Instagram
Meetings: Thursdays 6-8 p.m. in Haines Hall Room A44
Part of the larger Shenanigans Comedy Club at UCLA, UCLA Sketch Comedy’s goal is to unite people of all backgrounds to be silly and create funny sketches together. Each week, club members bring in sketches that they’ve been working on for each other to perform. Members assign each other to read aloud as different characters, and members later provide peer feedback to work on before the next meeting. Writers then revise their sketches to be read and reviewed again at the next meeting. Finished sketches are chosen to be performed live at one of UCLA Comedy’s many comedic showcases. With a drop-in-anytime structure and ability to allocate as much time as you wish to contribute outside the two-hour weekly meetings, UCLA Sketch provides both an amazing platform to share original work and a fun community.
The Active Listening Club (ALC)
@uclaactivelistening on Instagram
Meetings: Tuesdays 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. in Dodd Hall Room 162
Interested in music? Want to discuss it with a group of like-minded individuals? UCLA’s Active Listening Club (ALC) meets for just one hour each week to discuss unique aspects of music like song structure, album covers and lyric composition. Students in ALC cherish hearing each other’s unique music opinions and seek to create a safe space to voice both concerns and praises about the field. Members occasionally plan excursions to vinyl record stores or small-scale concerts to enjoy their shared love of music together.
Bruin Film Society
@bruinfilmsociety on Instagram
Meetings: Wednesdays 8 p.m. in Haines Hall Room A2, film screenings variable
While Bruin Film Society doesn’t have consistent weekly meetings, the organization is run by students who want to share their love of film with others by organizing free film screenings and discussions of various cinematic elements. This year, the movies “Pearl,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “Halloween,” “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” “The Virgin Suicides,” “Shiva Baby” and “Kung Fu Hustle” have been screened in various locations on campus, from the James Bridges Theater in Melnitz Hall to Haines Hall Room A2 at the center of campus. The organization is dedicated to promoting cultural diversity in the context of film and streaming movies that have important messages relating to the UCLA community. Joining the club’s GroupMe also provides students updates on local celebrity sightings. The club’s extremely low time commitment makes it a fun (and free) way to get involved with film at one of the nation’s greatest film schools.
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Featured Image Photographed by Juan Perez/BruinLife.
