“My lungs fill with the Convocation’s air as I step through the doors, the Kodachrome-blue hue washing over us as we take to our seats. The lights dim, the stage glows. Dean Celine explains that medicine is what keeps our heart beating, but the arts are what makes the beating worth it. The same sentiment that Robin Williams told me ten years ago, but this time, it’s coming from the dean of the department that I am now a part of.
My eyes welled. I looked to my left, and then to my right and saw that I was not alone. We sit here together, hearing the words that we have been waiting to hear our entire lives, sharing this moment of belonging with the remarkable people that this school has brought together. My friend takes a napkin from her bag and disperses its shreds amongst us. The paper soaks up the emotions, but not before my brain does.
Forever, my entire being will remember how the many speakers of that night made me realize that I have finally arrived to exactly where I am meant to be. I have spent so long looking for this place. Now, I get to grow here. My voice, our story.”
–Arden Salotti, third-year undergraduate, Film, Television & Digital Media
“’I will be arriving in a bespoke “Celine’s Cape” by PamPinay, reflecting my heritage and herstory, made fit for celebration to herald the new year. I encourage you to come in your own show-stopping outfit if you are so inclined. Whatever you decide, come as yourself, come as you are. I am going to be me, so you can be you!‘ -Dean Celine.
As I read this passage in the email I received for the TFT convocation, I remembered the dust-collecting Korean traditional dress (hanbok) that was previously my grandmother’s. As I stood in front of the mirror admiring how the dress looked, I had started to cry. It begged the question: who am I, if not the women who came before me? I was raised in the countryside of South Korea in a small village called Gumi, and my grandmother sold all three of her cows to send my father to college. Before the rapid industrialization of South Korea, prestige and wealth was needed to access higher education.
My mother, who had given up her life in Korea in her late thirties for my brother’s and I’s education, held back tears when I Facetimed her wearing the hanbok next to the bright-blue UCLA banner. My solo-parent grandmother who raised me had sacrificed everything in her possession to get me to this country. This campus. This lifestyle. I only then realized how much this title meant for them, and how I could finally show my ancestors what a university campus looked like through my eyes. I had felt nothing but deep and genuine gratitude that day. Not only for the lineage of women that I come from, but for the women that I am currently surrounded with who are able to be unapologetically, authentically, themselves.
To be cultivate an environment where women, especially women of color, feel safe to express their culture through such a powerful medium such as fashion; I applaud and thank all of you. I hope that one day, women will not just be appreciated for their sacrifices, but the unconditional love and support they continue to show for their community that often get overlooked.”
–Jiwon Kim, third-year undergraduate, Acting
