Building Bruin dreams: A new year of discovery, connection and achievement

Since she was 10 years old, Annalisa Anaya had dreamed of studying at UCLA. Last Friday, she finally set down roots on the Westwood campus she calls "a perfect place." Ringed by her parents, siblings, sister-in-law and family dog, the brand-new Bruin from Tulare, California, took a beat to soak it all in.

"Getting in is one of my biggest accomplishments," she said. "I have a lot of dreams, and I know UCLA is the place to do it." The self-professed adrenaline junkie intends to earn a degree in psychology, attend military flight school and ultimately become a Medevac pilot, blending aviation skill with emergency medical training. "I just want to help people," she said.

Her father, Joe, a former Marine, shared her satisfaction. "She's been dedicated to getting accepted, she knows where she's going and she's pursuing her dream at UCLA, where she'll be surrounded by goal-oriented, prestigious, top-of-the-line people," he said. "You couldn't have a prouder father in the world."

As a Bruin, Anaya's dreams blend with those of nearly 48,000 other UCLA undergraduate and graduate students - including approximately 10,000 first-years and new transfers - all poised to embark on an academic year filled with accomplishments, new discoveries and new connections.

More on back-to-school at UCLA

► 'What I wish I knew': Recent grads offer advice to incoming Bruins

► Bruins move in and prepare for a lively week of welcome events

► Chancellor Julio Frenk: Welcome back and a look forward

A first for Frenk

The fall return, said UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk, who spent nine years as the president of the University of Miami, is one of the moments he enjoys most, "when the campus reawakens and pulses with energy."

But this was his first move-in as a Bruin. He and his partner, Felicia Marie Knaul, who serves as associate of the chancellor, were at Sunset Village over the weekend, where they greeted some of the 15,000 new and returning Bruins at their residence halls on the Hill, posed for photos, and spoke with students and their families. Frenk and Knaul were saluted in turn with well-wishes and posters prepared by students.

On Sunday, Frenk addressed UCLA's newest class of diverse and academically accomplished students in Pauley Pavilion. "You have earned this moment through your hard work, creativity and talent, and we couldn't be happier to welcome you as the newest members of our Bruin family," he said while highlighting the fact that nearly 30% of these students will be the first in their families to earn a university degree - a testament to UCLA's longstanding role as an engine of social mobility.

Research with impact

And while he acknowledged the challenges facing UCLA and universities across the country - including federal funding suspensions that threaten to curtail the lifesaving and life-changing work that takes place each day on campus - Frenk reassured students that educational mission "study with some of the world's leading thinkers, in everything from engineering to economics, astrophysics to art history, poetry to politics," many of whom are globally among the most influential in their fields.

For first-generation student Enzo Pilcher, a biochemistry major from Camarillo, California, now beginning his second year, the chance to conduct undergraduate laboratory research with faculty members opens avenues for learning and advancement as he eyes a future in medical school. "That's my main goal, to get a research opportunity," he said as his mother, Sheryl, a pharmacy technician, listened in outside Rieber Hall.

"UCLA really provides the best health care there is," she said. "I would like him to learn from them. They've helped me a lot, and one day, I hope he can pay it forward and help someone else. That's the reason I'm glad he picked UCLA."

That idea of paying it forward and of UCLA as a vibrant, visionary institution rooted in service to the community and the world is a major pillar of One UCLA, the collective vision for the university's future that emerged from Frenk's UCLA Connects: Listening Exercise this spring.

A passion for service

It's that service-oriented vision that inspires Parth Ganga, a first-year psychobiology and pre-med student. As a high schooler in the Bay Area, he coached kids with special needs in basketball and volunteered with underprivileged visually impaired children. On campus, he plans to join the Care Extender Program, assisting staff and patients at UCLA's medical centers, and the new Psychological Health Club, which provides social support to L.A.'s homeless population.

It's also what motivates Jada Jones, whose dream is to be a foreign service officer. The first-year San Diego native, who was president of the Black Student Union in high school and vice president of her class, spent a year on a cultural and diplomatic exchange program in Germany before coming to UCLA, where she plans to continue studying German, learn Korean and pave the way to her future through the interdisciplinary global studies program.

And it's also what guides second-year student Julius James. After a summer speaking to kids in a college-readiness program and interning at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California, where he oversaw 12 high school interns, James changed his major from pre-med to public affairs, with a focus on community relations and the health care setting, an area in which he felt he could excel and, ultimately, better serve the community.

Finding your community