This past weekend was State Finals! It’s a two-day event put on by the UCLA Alumni Association, and it is essentially a scholarship competition for incoming students who have received an alumni scholarship. Because I am a part of the Outreach Committee for the Alumni Scholars Club (which is the club with all the kids who got alumni scholarships), I got to be part of both days of State Finals.

My committee planned the entire first day of State Finals, which was pretty much a big welcome-to-UCLA party. We went all-out. We made the finalists some gorgeous (and some not so gorgeous) signs with their names on them. We decorated our meeting room with giant posters of Pixar characters (our theme for that day). We planned games and icebreakers. We took them on tours of the campus and showed them secret spots around the school. We fed them (and ourselves) some delicious food at lunch and took them to Covel dining hall for dinner. We had a build-the-best-dessert contest. We had a scavenger hunt. The entire day was glorious! And not just because of all the fun stuff we did, but also because it was awesome to get to know some of UCLA’s incoming students.

The first day was all funsies, but the second day was the actual “Day of Competition” where the scholars participated in various tasks and were judged by alumni. Even though I spent a lot of time with the finalists the day before, I feel like I really got to know a lot of them better when they were nervously waiting around in their business attire. And when I say waiting around, I do mean waiting around. Most of the day, the scholars were awaiting there next task (which was great for me, more time with them!). We played a ton of really fun word games and guessing games and just games in general. If the games and the conversation wasn’t enough, there was also ~copious amounts~ of the best food ever. Chicken salad sandwiches at lunch and tortellini at dinner (this tortellini is so freaking good, there is even a Facebook group about it). And because there were so many alumni there from judging the competition, all the scholars and current students got to chat up people who had already graduated from UCLA! Speaking with alumni is always a treat (they are so wise).

State Finals is one of my favorite events of the year that ASC is a part of. If you would like to get involved and maybe come to a State Finals yourself, please please please apply for an Alumni Scholarship during your senior year of high school after you have applied to UCLA. The club’s great, the money’s great, the people are great – and most importantly – you get to go to fun events like these year-round and eat the best food.