To the graduating Class of 2005: Congratulations! We made it! As
your outgoing president, I want to share some final thoughts and
wish you well.
As we celebrate with our families this momentous occasion in
each of our lives, it’s important that we savor this personal
victory as much as possible, and also take time to reflect on our
education as we plan for the future. As graduates of UCLA, it
should be obvious to each of us that we leave this institution
equipped with knowledge, skills and resources that very few possess
within our larger communities.
And while we each deserve recognition for the work we’ve
put in to reach this moment, we should look upon this neither with
arrogance nor denial. Our education provides us with critical
privileges in society, and as graduates now entering the
“real world,” we must acknowledge the power we possess
to shape our society. The path we choose at this pivotal moment
will determine whether we truly become the leaders of tomorrow or
simply the perpetuators of the status quo.
Often we hear our generation labeled as apathetic and
disconnected from the issues that affect the lives of those around
us. Year after year, I hear that activism ““ a concentrated
effort by leaders to create change ““ is dead. Worse yet, I
often see neither anger nor a genuine concern to prove this
categorization wrong. As UCLA students, we must look to this trend
and collectively call it out for what it is: unacceptable and, even
more so, untrue.
At UCLA I’ve had the honor of working beside so many
students who put in the time and energy every day to improve the
lives of others. Whether it is the students in our outreach
programs who travel to high schools every afternoon, the pre-med
students who volunteer at a free clinic in South Central Los
Angeles, or countless other students involved in countless other
community programs and activities, the message is the same: We
care, and we want to make this world a better place.
To me, these people embody the definition of activists.
Activists use the knowledge, skills and resources they have
developed at UCLA and apply them to serve outside communities. We
need to get over the stigma of activists as angry people with
picket signs screaming at the tops of their lungs. The truth is,
our society is not crying out for solely this type of activism.
What our society is crying out for is students to expand and
transform what we currently call our “extracurricular”
work into full-time professions. Just imagine the impact we would
make if our community service projects were re-established on a
wide scale as community service providers. Imagine the clinics, the
new schools, the community law practices and the innovative
businesses all grounded in serving those who need our resources
most.
This is not to say we should view ourselves as saviors and our
communities as destitute of any power themselves. Instead, we
should see the potential that exists should we combine our
strengths with those of our community members. There is much we can
learn and there is much we can teach. Again, simply by looking at
what we’ve accomplished at UCLA, I am inspired to believe
that we truly possess the ability to change this world. As Gandhi
once said, let us go out and “be the change we wish to see in
the world.”
Palma/Saracho was the 2004-2005 USAC president.