RA Interviews

Disclaimer: The word f*n (u) will be censored for Cluster 5’s RA introductions

due to its banning from the classroom.

Nandini I., an RA for Cluster 5 (Video Games: The Design of F*n from Concept

to Code), is a Computer Game Design major going into her third (and final!)

year at UCSC. Her first year as an RA this summer at COSMOS started with a job

search and the discovery of a cluster focusing on her specific major, allowing

her to take part in a f*n opportunity to help run the program. So far, she has

led a “Sip & Paint” and karaoke, both of which have been highly successful

among students. In her free time, Nandini enjoys dancing, painting, and

drawing. One of her most notable favorite foods from the dining hall is a

concoction she named the “Diabetes Bowl”, with some of the ingredients

consisting of ice cream, Hershey’s syrup, Cinnamon Toast CrunchTM, whipped

cream, marshmallows, and “more Hershey’s syrup”. When questioned about

advice for students, she encourages not being afraid to step out of your

comfort zone and truly taking every opportunity possible.

An RA for Cluster 5 as well, Angel M. is a Computer Science major going into

his third year here at UCSC. What stood out to him the most about this job is

how COSMOS offers opportunities for high school students to learn about cool

subjects in a summer camp experience. Some of the activities he has led in his

first year here are soccer during rec time and the basketball tournament during

afternoon activities. Angel’s favorite dining hall event is pasta night, with the

penne pasta with marinara and meatballs topping the ranks. His hobbies

include playing soccer, going to the gym, hiking, and coding “depending on the

day”. To the students here at COSMOS, his message is “Make the most of every

moment because it goes by quickly. Don’t be scared to try something new and try

something you wouldn’t originally.”

Written by Madeline Wang