Meet The Candidates

I served UASRA on multiple platforms so far. I was highly involved with the free food program. I am working for UASRA Gardens for two years. I want to lead UASRA programs as president this year. I find myself in this position for nomination because I believe I learned a lot past two years and I will do an honest job towards residents. I want to have a better alliance with Reslife and ring back basic need distribution and more events. I would like to support our residents for their basic right to clean housing by discussing it with responsible UCLA authorities. I would like to work to get garden experience at Venice Berry Housing. I advocate community engagement. 

Hello everyone, My name is Kunal Arekar and I am standing for the position of Vice President of UASRA. I have been a part of UASRA as a unit representative for Sawtelle B since February 2022. As a unit representative, I got a chance to interact with many people from different backgrounds, which has helped me understand the community we live in. I have organized 4 community events for residents to meet and get to know each other, to increase communication and to impart a feeling of community and belonging to many a people who are far away from there families and loved ones. In the past 15 months, I have learned and grown as someone who a representative of community and an advocate of the welfare of the residents of this community. I believe my experience as a unit representative will help me serve this community during my time here as a Vice President.

I work as UASRA volunteer for free food program and other events. I was Unit rep for a year and afterwards joined UASRA board as treasurer this year. I would like to continue my services to UASRA and the community by applyung again for treasurer position for upcoming session. 

I am running for the position of UASRA Secretary because I am confident that I can bring positive changes to this role. My primary objective will be to streamline the protocols for utilizing UASRA resources and to create awareness about the upcoming general assemblies. Additionally, I aim to boost engagement with UASRA by enhancing access to current events through regular newsletters and messaging.

My experience as a Keystone Unit Representative for the past two years has provided me with valuable insights into community organizing. During this time, I successfully organized numerous community-wide events that brought people together. I also increased community engagement by creating more social media channels and introducing small, recreational activities like coffee walks.

If elected, I will leverage my skills and experience to ensure that UASRA operates smoothly and efficiently. I am committed to working closely with the UASRA team to create a more connected and informed community. Thank you for considering my candidacy for the role of UASRA Secretary.

I am interested in continuing to be an active member of the University Apartment South (UAS) community serving as the community center coordinator. I have lived in the University Village for 6 years now and I have been actively involved with the community through all these years. I have a rich experience as a UASRA officer since 2019 serving different positions. Additionally, I have participated in all the activities organized by UASRA for our community as well as volunteering in different ways. All these different experiences have helped me to work with members of our community and to achieve UASRA goals to benefit the residents. I am committed to make the community rooms accessible in the best way for our residents, provide classes and events and supervise the maintenance of the Community Center and Sepulveda Resource Room.

Sincerely,
Evris Bacu

This is Pramita Bhattacharyya, a previous unit Rep of Sep C, this term I am applying for the post of Community center coordinator.
This position demands programs, classes and events for UASRA residents to provide constructive activities for them to be involved in and to represent their concerns and interests. These are the main reasons why I like this position so much, I can bring some joy and relaxation to my neighbors through some classes or events in our busy hectic schedule. Its like a fresh air to all of us and people enjoyed a lot.
If I am elected I would like to start some relevant and necessary classes,which may be closed for a long time due to covid, such as Music, swimming, drawing, exercise and ofcourse english classes.
As a unit rep of Sep C (2022-2023), I have completed all my duties, although I live in the Sep D playground, I go to playground C almost every week. I have done two big events in that playground,will conduct another event according to my budget left.
Some neighbors complained about the washers, I helped them as much as possible and solved many queries for spectrum connections and gave them the right mail id and phone number to connect.
I am also an active free food volunteer for almost 2 years and volunteered in many general events.
I also served as a master gardener in absence of her in the recent garden fest where i distributed plants, seeds and decorative items to my neighbor gardeners.
Lastly, We all left our homes and came here, I want this community to become our second home to us!

I have served in UASRA as Unit Rep and Event Coordinator for 2 years, and I enjoyed in hosting and participating our events and working with our community friends. As I will give birth to a baby very soon, I hope I can apply for a position with less in person duty, but can still serve UASRA and help with our events as volunteers. And I’m good at graphic design, so I believe I can handle the Website Editor’s job well.

I am excited to submit my application for election as a Unit Representative (B) for the upcoming year. During my tenure as a Unit Representative during this month, I have worked closely with my fellow representatives to promote open communication, collaboration, and inclusivity. 
In addition, we have organized several family events for residents and their children, which have been well-received by the community. These events were aimed at fostering a sense of community and providing opportunities for families to socialize and have fun together.
As a resident and a Unit Representative, I understand the challenges and issues that our community faces. I am committed to using my experience and skills to find solutions that benefit all residents. I am passionate about promoting equity and inclusion, and I will work tirelessly to ensure that every resident feels welcome and valued.
In conclusion, I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as a Unit Representative and am excited about the possibility of continuing to do so. Thank you for considering my application, and I look forward to the opportunity to work with you all in the upcoming year.

My name is Leyla, and I'm running for the position of Sepulveda A unit representative. I've held this role for the past year. I want to use my experience to help my community - my family - for a further year. During the last year, I've coordinated several enjoyable family gatherings, resolved numerous building issues, and delivered a massive amount of food to our UV community. I'd like to continue working on providing more exciting, educational, and entertaining activities to our community, as well as bringing food and representing our Sepulveda A playground. As a present resident of the Sepulveda A playground, I can notice minor issues that I am eager to address in the future. Let us work together to make our community a better and safer place to live. 

I have always been interested in interacting with people and trying to put a smile on their faces. My educational background in the field of dentistry helped shape my natural instinct to serve and help people feel better on both physical and emotional levels. When I was a child I was a scout girl and i remember the great enjoyment that I get whenever I get involved with community service. However, since I moved to the village back in 2019 I was amazed at the great diversity of the fellow neighbors and I was naturally making friends and building great relationships with many people that we became like families. I am very excited and thrilled to join this community leaders team and would live to have a positive impact on the lives of fellow neighbors and their kids especially that I have a 5 year old. I have many ideas to have fun this summer and to bring the community together. I highly appreciate the opportunity to serve the community. 
Many thanks

Dear residents of the University Apartments South,
I am interested in continuing to serve the UASRA Sepulveda D Unit Representative position for the academic year 2023-2024. Living the last 5 years in this community, I have been actively involved by serving as Sepulveda D Unit Representative for 2021-2023., participating in various activities organized by the UASRA, and volunteering in different ways. I am a very responsible, committed, and positive person. In addition, participating in UASRA meetings as last year, I had the opportunity to understand the nature of the Unit Representative position and the challenges to better serve the community. My long experience living in the University Village and the two years of experience as a Unit Rep has taught me that besides keeping the residents informed about the main issues of the community and advocating their interests, which are of great interest, the daily life concerns about for example maintenance, sharing the common space, creating a positive environment for families and children, connecting people from different cultural, ethnic, and gender backgrounds are also very important for the quality of life of the UAS residents
Sincerely,
Gazmend Elezi

I did not realize how important diversity was to community building until I became a unit representative. I spearheaded my first family friendly movie event after the pandemic. I engaged with most families and invited their feedback throughout the entirety of the event. I met with many new residents that I had not seen before despite living on the same floor as me. I saw the importance of a leader staying in touch with the concerns of the people they are representing. Many families stayed behind and helped me to clean up. Not leaving until I was finished with packing everything up. I had not originally planned nor asked for this. Yet, it was a successful event because of their participation. I did not recognize how much residents wanted to be included in the planning and event making process. This experience showed me that residents create the community. So, the inclusion of their voices is essential in decision making. I decided to create a group-me for future events and post event surveys. In order to make resident voice’s a primary part of event making. I want to continue to serve as unit representative for my community.

This is Sandip, a resident of Sepulveda, this term I am applying for the position of unit representative of Sepulveda C.
This position demands events to bring student families together, represent their concerns and interests, and keep them informed. These are the reasons why I liked this position, I can bring my neighbors united and can help them whenever needed and these give me joy and happiness.
If I am elected I would like to have some great events which neighbors like the most, like meet and great, movie night , several art events.
I also volunteered in free food distributions and many general events like Halloween, spring event, color festival, spring festival etc.

Dear Housing Community Members,

I am honored to submit my name as a candidate for the position of Unit Representative (Sawtelle B). As a resident of this community, I have a vested interest in making sure our neighborhood remains a great place to live. 

My vision for the future of our community involves several key areas of focus. Firstly, I believe it is important to foster a strong sense of community by organizing events and activities that bring neighbors together. Social gatherings such as block parties or fun bake-offs will allow us to get to know each other and build relationships.

Secondly, I believe that maintaining our facilities and amenities is crucial to the continued success of our community. This means ensuring that common areas are clean and well-maintained, and urgent repairs are made promptly. 

Finally, I am committed to working with the board to ensure that our community remains well-managed. This means carefully reviewing our budget, ensuring that we are spending our resources wisely, and making decisions that benefit the community as a whole. 

In summary, I am committed to working hard to ensure that our community remains a wonderful place to call home. Thank you for consideration. 

I’ve been the unit rep for Sawtelle D for 7 months already and I’m enjoying my position. I’d like to continue. 

I am excited to apply for the Website Editor position at UASRA. I'm knowledgeable in web design and frontend development (HTML+CSS+JavaScript), and I have my personal homepage https://dpzhai.com . In addition, I'm a team player and glad to collaborate with other people. I think I'm an excellent fit for this role.

I have lived in UCLA Sawtelle Village for about one year, and I'm very willing to contribute to and serve the community.

Please kindly consider my application and give me the opportunity.

This person has chose to not include a write-up.

I have been serving as Rose rep this past quarter. I hosted a pizza party which brought many community members together. I also hosted a garden event for Rose which was great for our. Community. I love living at Rose apartments and hope to continue to make it a safe and community-based place to live. And I took notes of concerns from residents at the past events. I plan to follow up with the concerns and send them to the appropriate source for the concerns to be addressed. Thank you for the opportunity to serve this quarter and I hope to serve again in the future!

Hi everyone, I am currently the unit representative of Mentone-Clarington. Two years ago when I came to this housing directly from India, I felt isolated for a while. I strongly wanted to contribute to connecting people within the KMC and thus became a unit rep. 
This year, the unit rep of Keystone and I organized social events aimed at providing rejuvenation, adventures, and social interaction, such as the Welcome event, Musical Games Night, and Swap Meet. I am also organizing a Costume Party event for everyone to be able to express their goofy and artsy side.
As a unit rep, I reported infrastructure issues of Mentone & Clarington and ensured the completion of maintenance. This resulted in the repair of faulty lights in staircases and unblocking of accessible pathways in the garden area. 
If given a chance, I will continue conducting stimulating events to keep residents well-connected. I will also ramp up efforts to report the issues of package theft, faulty doors, and broken washing machines if these issues reappear. Moreover, I will also pursue the demand of adding more necessary infrastructure in Mentone, such as lights in the barbecue area and planters with indigenous plants.