HDAE Highlights V6N3
Micro-articles about Our Staff & Communities
CycleMAYnia
By Jared Martinez
CycleMAYnia came back strong this year! This was a successful month-long cycling event for HDAE staff. The event featured two competitive teams, the “Handlebar Hooligans” with team captain Jared Martinez, and “The Gladiators” with team captain Pedro Rivera who collectively rode over 900 miles throughout May. Participants from both teams demonstrated dedication and commitment to cycling, promoting fitness and environmental sustainability through their efforts. The event not only encouraged physical activity and healthy competition but also fostered a sense of community among the participants.
CycleMAYnia was a great showcase of teamwork, persistence, and a shared passion for cycling. The winning team; “The Gladiators” rode over 500 miles. Leslie Ramirez was our top rider, cycling 149.9 miles! Our second-place rider was Quinn Mahony riding 108.9 miles! Wondering how far is 900 miles? HDAE bike riders rode the equivalent of riding from Santa Barbara to New Mexico.
UC Moves 2024
by Jared Martinez
UC Moves is an annual UC-wide well-being initiative hosted by HDAE’s Wellness program that promotes wellness and an active lifestyle. UCSB staff and faculty were encouraged to “move more” for three weeks in May while competing against other UC campuses. All participants tracked their steps with the Spring into Motion app. The activity was tracked by syncing their phone or smartwatch to the app or by manually entering their daily physical activities. UC Moves included weekly encouraging emails, and campus-wide events such as; a campus-organized walk, a yoga class, a leg burner workout class, and a Zoom virtual stretching session. UCSB had a total of 339 participants and completed a total of 83963265 steps. Our campus was ranked 2nd place overall amongst all the other UC campuses! The top HDAE individual leads were Quinn Mahony, Marissa Mancias, Danielle Sinclair, Maryam Nozari, Brandon Harrington, Jill Horst, Rafael Velasquez, and Pedro Vences.
Shout out to team “Busta Move” led by Nicholas Engenbrits for being the UCSB team with the most points! Congratulations and great job on representing Gauchos! A special thanks to Kaiser for funding the event and providing prizes, which included gardening tool kits, cooler bags, wireless speakers, and Fitbits!
Arts & Culture Presents the Chalk & Music Fest
By Carol Hirashima
Under cloudy skies, the Arts & Culture Annual Chalk & Music fest shined as the committee launched HDAE’s 2nd fest with a lemon twist; a Paint & Lemonade workshop!
This year’s HDAE Arts & Culture 2023-24 theme is “I ❤️ UCSB”. It was a baseline that created the foundation for inspiring initiatives highlighting the year's achievements. Local artist Mila Kon was invited to lead participants through an hour-long exercise. HDAE staff were provided with paint, canvas, easels, and lemonade; and in a little over an hour, everyone had applied their artistic sensibilities to canvas and created masterful works of art! In De Anza Courtyard, musicians, artists, staff and students filled the outdoor space with color. Ballads, pop music, rock & roll, and rap filled the air with a rich and diverse acoustic atmosphere.
In addition to the Chalk & Music Fest, the Arts & Culture committee collaborated with the Residential Housing Association [RHA] to bring Karaoke to Welcome Week, joined forces with Residential Operations and R&CL to install surf racks at Santa Catalina Residence Hall, sponsored first-year student and muralist Sophia Kachkeran to paint her concept piece which will take center stage upon its completion, and this summer will complete the installation of two new Little Free Libraries; one will be placed at Santa Cruz Residence Hall and the other at San Clemente Villages. It’s been a very productive year!
The Arts & Culture Committee is committed to bringing arts and culture to the HDAE community, staff, students, and visitors by inspiring creative, imaginative, and innovative ideas that help to make our shared spaces uniquely ours while gaining health and well-being along the way.
Special thanks to Associate Vice Chancellor Willie Brown, the Residential Operations Team who refreshed the walkway to its original state, Campus Catering, Furniture Services, and the Arts & Culture Committee members who volunteered their time: Michael Adami, Kirsten Brinlee, Nestor Covarrubias, Sara Engebrits, Marisol Gomez, Carol Hirashima, Billy Jankowski, Kristi Kirkpatrick, Michele Kunz, Eriko MacDonald, Shoshana Medved, Shalauna Miller, Louis Reynaud.
If you are interested in serving on the committee in the 24-25 academic year, please contact Carol Hirashima at chirashima@ucsb.edu.