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Women’s floor residents on the fifth floor of Hedrick Hall gather in their kitchen –

When you exit the Hedrick Hall elevator and enter the fifth floor on the northern side, you can see big posters advertising typical dorm events such as “Food ’N Fotos” night and the Leadership Intern Program. Although this floor might not seem different from those in other residence halls, it is because it is an all women’s floor.

The women’s floor is just one of many theme floors this year, which includes other themes such as intercultural experience, fitness and well-being, and academic enhancement.

From its start in 1983, UCLA’s theme housing has grown to include a wide variety.

From the great outdoors to community service, students are able to choose from a variety of themes that can open them to new opportunities in those fields, as well as help them meet other students who also share the same interests, said Jack Gibbons, associate director of the Office of Residential Life.

Although some people in theme housing may not have requested it or did not have it as their first choice, they might find the opportunities granted by theme floors appealing.

“For those with no prior experience, it gives them an open book ... to widen their horizons,” said Eric Sun, a fourth-year physiological science student and resident assistant of De Neve’s fitness and well-being floor.

Patrick Pieng, the RA for De Neve Plaza’s intercultural experience theme floor, said theme floors are designed to help students expand their horizons, even if they find themselves on the floor by chance.

“I want for those who did not choose to live on this floor or did not have much interest in intercultural experience to learn something new about others and hopefully walk away with more appreciation and understanding for all people,” Pieng, a third-year psychology and sociology student, said.

Gibbons emphasized the importance of theme housing and its ability to help students get involved in programs that they like and want to explore.

“Theme housing provides an opportunity for students to congregate around similar interests and join with others in activities and programs,” Gibbons said.

Gibbons further explained how there has been a recent revitalization of theme housing programs.

Theme floors not only allow a forum for students to focus on activities that they are interested in, but organizers have started to incorporate more programs that help students become involved with UCLA, the surrounding community and other organizations.

“Theme floors are now working to build ties with the campus and with the community at large,” Gibbons said.

Sun emphasized the opportunities available to students in theme housing. “It allows them to continue that interest and further develop it. They see a much wider range of activities that they can get involved in,” Sun said.

The fitness and well-being floors, for example, have numerous bulletins on UCLA recreational activities, intramural sports and other programs that promote a fit state of health and state of mind that students can get involved in.

Daniel Tith, a second-year business economics student who lives on the floor, said his RAs take some of the residents to play basketball or get them involved with recreational activities like yoga or Pilates.

The theme floors are now working with other campus entities as co-sponsors to open new programs to students.

For instance, the academic enhancement floor has Academics in the Commons as a cosponsor. Academics in the Commons is a program offering tutoring for students on the hill and also provides workshops educating residents about available scholarships and internships.

UCLA Recreation co-sponsors the fitness and well-being floors and provides a wide range of recreational activities for students while the UCLA Center for Women and Men provides many workshops and support groups on gender-related issues for Hedrick’s all women’s floor.

Students on theme floors are then able to participate in or help organize events involved with their co-sponsors, such as Take Back the Night or the Clothesline Project for students on the women’s floor.

Gibbons also explained how RAs and resident directors meet with one another and with the students to find out what students want to participate in.

“There will be intentional programming towards the specific theme, and we want our residents to tell us what they expect so we can program to their specific needs and interests,” Pieng said.

The intercultural experience floor has already had its first cultural program: a sampling of foods and drinks from different cultures and places around the world. Possible future events include salsa dancing, cooking ethnic foods, diversity workshops, culture nights and outreach work with the Dashew International Center, an organization that helps international students adjust to life at UCLA and in Los Angeles.

Gibbons said theme floor leaders continue to make academic connections with faculty and community service organizations so that students have more opportunities to get more out of their dorm experience.