Looking forward to the return to campus and Westwood this fall, photographer Adam Amengual captured the hopeful spirit of the community as life got a bit closer to normal.
A WESTWOOD GEM
Customers still frequent Westwood Village mainstay Diddy Riese for cookies and ice cream.
CULTURE AND LIVE MUSIC
Recent UCLA graduates Ben Konold ’21 and Sydni Brown ’21 hope Westwood is starting to feel more normal as the pandemic eases. But Konold wishes for more live music, and Brown would love to see more cultural activities geared toward minorities.
HELP FOR NEIGHBORS
Farmers market vendor Nena Walker wants solutions to the problems facing people in the village who are unhoused.
FEELING CONNECTED
Several UCLA students enjoy their farmers market purchases. They acknowledge that some students feel disconnected from Westwood and don’t consider all the amenities there. They hope for more community-based activities geared toward students, such as block parties and festivals.
FIRST-TIME ROOMIES
Incoming freshmen and future roommates Iman Mozaffarian and Luke Shen met for the first time on campus. After a strange end to their senior year of high school, both hope to have a more normal college freshman experience.
BEING SOCIAL
Chantelle Padilla and Nirmit Shah lounge on campus. Shah, a dental student, is excited for campus amenities, such as gyms and libraries, to reopen. He looks forward to being more social again.
NO MORE ZOOM
Chemistry professor Eric Scerri is anxious about the large crowds returning to campus, since he teaches classes of 350 students. He enjoyed teaching online but says he never before worked so hard. He hopes UCLA will gain from the experience of everyone’s having adapted so quickly to online teaching and learning.
THE COLLEGE EXPERIENCE
Baraka Beckett, a senior and an offensive lineman on the Bruin football team, says football helped him get through the pandemic, forcing him to get out and taking his mind off everything else. He’s excited to be back on campus for the true college experience in his last year. He says, “When you go to college, you expect to go to college.”
CATCHING UP
Students gather on one of the many green spaces on campus.
Read more from UCLA Magazine’s October 2021 issue.
