5 Questions with UCLA Chancellor’s Service Award Recipient, Nikki Klepper
Nikki Klepper ’17 (B.A., World Arts & Cultures)
The Chancellor's Service Award is a selective award honoring graduating undergraduate students who have made significant contributions to UCLA and/or the Los Angeles community through a sustained record of outstanding leadership and service. This year, Nikki Klepper, a senior in the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance and a UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture student ambassador received the honor.
UCLA Arts: Congratulations on your award! Tell us about the service that you have done at UCLA.
Nikki Klepper: Thank you! For the past three years, I’ve worked as a Cub Tour Guide through the UCLA Office of Undergraduate Admissions, providing tours for kindergarten through eighth grade students from the greater Los Angeles area. The guides take an hour every week to lead a group of 30 students around campus, talk about our traditions, and try to inspire and empower the students and help them to realize that college is a possibility for them, regardless of their financial situation. We want these students to see their potential to go to UCLA or another institution of higher learning in the future, if that is a dream they wish to pursue.
In addition to my volunteer work, I’ve also held paid positions as a Bruin Ambassador and Campus Tour Guide for the Office of Undergraduate Admission, as well as a Student Ambassador for the School of the Arts and Architecture. In these positions, I traveled to LAUSD high schools to present on the UC Application process, provided campus tours to prospective students, attended college fairs, and spoke to students and parents about general UCLA academic & student life.
I've also been working with the UCLA Law School through the Tribal Learning Community and Educational Exchange Program, led by Dwight Lomayesva. I created an educational video series geared towards students with American Indian/Alaskan Native backgrounds that features important information about the UC Application process, and overall college transition experience from the perspectives of current UCLA students within these communities. The hope is to inspire and empower students from all communities to pursue higher education, and to provide the necessary resources in order to achieve this important life choice.
Finally, I’ve been involved in Greek Life for the past four years serving as Chapter President and other executive board positions within my own chapter. Each academic year, I’ve volunteered at the Ronald McDonald houses in Pasadena and Los Angeles, and have helped to lead our chapter’s annual philanthropy soccer tournament to raise money for the national Ronald McDonald House Charities Foundation.
Nikki leading students as a Cub Tour Guide
UCLA Arts: What motivated you to get involved in these endeavors?
NK: Volunteering was a huge part of my high school career. Upon arriving to UCLA, I was initially really focused on succeeding in my academics, joining various clubs, and applying for jobs. For a long time, I didn't realize how big of a part volunteering had become in my life at UCLA, because I just got involved in things I love to do, and they all happened to be centered around service and giving back. Whether it’s working for a non-profit after I graduate or getting involved in other volunteer organizations outside of work, it's something that I want to stick with for life.
UCLA Arts: Speaking of the future, what are your plans after graduation?
NK: For the next few months, I'm going to be working as a New Student Advisor with the New Student Orientation staff. Through this job, I'll help guide the new freshmen and transfer students to create their future academic schedules, and to help with the overall emotional and social transition to college. As past of the training process, all NSA’s are trained for over 100 hours to become both academic advisors and counselors in order to be prepared for any type of situation that arises during a session. UCLA’s orientation program is one of the only programs in the country in which college students academically advise the new students. It's an intense training process, but it's incredibly rewarding, and has both prepared and inspired me to pursue graduate school for post-secondary admission, higher education, and student affairs in the future.
As a recipient of the Chancellor's Service Award, Nikki was distinguished by the blue and gold fourragère during the commencement ceremony.
UCLA Arts: Looking back on your time at UCLA, what moments stand out as particularly memorable to you?
NK: I remember on the first day of my very first World Arts and Cultures class, Professor David Gere asked us to line up on a spectrum based on how hard we believe we worked to get to UCLA. I know I worked hard in high school; that’s why I ended up at UCLA, so I walked to the “hard-working” side of the classroom.
Professor Gere then said, "Now, I want you to explain to the person next to you why you chose to stand on this particular side of the spectrum." I proudly explained to the student next to me why I decided to stand on this side of the classroom. After I finished sharing, my classmate began to explain his path to UCLA and recounted that he grew up in another country as a foster child and ran away from home to America to pursue a better life for himself. This student’s story absolutely humbled me, and I took a step back and walked to the opposite side of the spectrum. I realize struggle is relative, but for one of the first times in my adult life, I was able to truly understand, acknowledge, and appreciate my privilege. So many students have faced immense challenges prior to arriving at UCLA that they still continue to endure, but are incredibly resilient and persevere. This moment was one of the most important lessons I learned at UCLA and set the foundation for four of the most memorable growing years of my life.
UCLA Arts: That’s an important experience. Particularly in an arts course. How are the arts uniquely positioned to communicate this type of message? Why does art matter?
The arts are crucial for gaining perspective. Not only does UCLA Arts offer an interdisciplinary curriculum, but it also brings together a diverse group of students with different passions. There is this unparalleled, supportive community of people who want to collaborate and work with each other. For my past four years in the School of the Arts and Architecture, the student mentality has been, "I want to succeed together, let's stop and reflect on how art is impacting our world and each other,” rather than, "I'm trying to get from one point to the next," and ignoring the important implications of our actions on ourselves and others. Our experiences through arts at UCLA have given my fellow classmates and I the opportunity to experiment, take risks, problem solve, and explore creative processes that help build real-life skills that have prepared us for work and life.