On December 3, 41 students attended a field trip at U.C.L.A. for a campus tour.  The college offered to pay for the trip, and MacArthur covered the bus fees. The bus ride was a two-hour ride there and back, and they stayed for two hours.

Counselor Dr. David Diaz said, “This was an opportunity that we took for the district, they said hey we would like all the middle school to have an opportunity to go to U.C.L.A. just let us know the day and time.” 

When the students arrived at U.C.L.A., they had a bathroom break before starting their tour. They saw the U.C.L.A. mascot statue and heard campus lore like the war between U.C.I. and U.C.L.A. and a dead body buried under the U.C.L.A. stairs. Then, students explored on their own around the campus and returned to the bus. 

“My favorite part was learning about what they did about the war between U.C.L.A. and U.C.I.,” said eighth-grader Isabella V.  “We got off the bus and went straight to a statue of a bear and we waited for everyone to go to the restroom and then our tour started.”

To attend the trip, students applied on a Google Form, saying why they wanted to go on the campus tour.  Over 100 students applied and 41 were selected. The best responses on “why you wanted to go” were chosen anonymously so counselors would not show bias. 

Diaz said, “One of the counselors said hey let’s do a survey, and then somebody alright what should we put in the survey?” Over 100 students completed the survey. “We picked the people whose answers were the best and the reason they wanted to go.”

Sixth-grader Kaylee L. said, “ I filled out a survey and I got the questions correctly.”  Kaylee was one of the students selected to attend the trip.

The U.C.L.A. field trip was similar to the annual MacTivities trip. Last year, the MacTivities field trip attended crosstown rival U.S.C. The U.S.C. field trip had a focus on the campus history and architecture; whereas, the U.C.L.A. trip was designed as motivation.