But after hours: PAC volunteer with her dog, Blizzard

What is PAC?: The UCLA People-Animal Connection (PAC) is one of the most comprehensive Animal-Assisted Therapy and Activity programs in the nation. PAC volunteer teams — consisting of canines and their human partners — offer companionship and emotional support to more than 900 critically ill children and adults per month. Since its inception in 1994, PAC teams have recorded more than 100,000 in-patient visits, as well as hundreds of thousands of unrecorded visits to families and guests at UCLA medical centers and community events.

Why PAC?: Jacob first heard about the PAC program “since coming to UCLA or from another dog lover in the park or something,” she said, laughing. Jacob knew immediately that it was something she wanted to be a part of. She did not hesitate getting her now 4-year-old collie, Blizzard, involved because her “previous collie, Riley, was involved, and that went really well ... Collies have a wonderful temperament, and I really wanted to share that.”

Becoming a PAC dog: The PAC program requires that all of its canine volunteers be at least 18 months old to qualify. Each dog must pass a three-hour test conducted by the Pet Partners organization. Test-givers make sure the dogs know how to obey basic commands, with or without their owners present. They also play out different scenarios — such as a patient falling — to see how the dogs will respond. “I brought in a trainer to train him and also to train me to train him. I tried to train him when he was a pup for half an hour every day,” Jacob said. “You really have to keep after it so he knows you’re in charge.” Blizzard passed the test and is now a full-fledged volunteer of the program. “He is so obedient in the hospital. Somehow the animals know they are in a formal setting.”

'A walking Clark Gable': The program requires that all dogs be groomed before going on their visits. Since it is not healthy for dogs’ skin to be groomed too often, Jacob takes Blizzard to the hospital twice a month. She accompanies Blizzard on all his visits and stays with him the whole time. At the hospital, Blizzard is “inherently friendly. I help him on the bed,” she said. “Sometimes he will lick hands and toes.” She brings treats for Blizzard and allows the children to give him the treats as well. According to Jacob, “Blizzard feels like the center of attention, a walking Clark Gable” when he is at the hospital, since everyone from doctors, nurses, orderlies, patients and visiting families are constantly petting him and wanting to take pictures with him.

Soothing away stress: Aside from the lobby’s slippery marble floor, which Blizzard hates, he is incredibly comfortable in the hospital. When it comes to patients, Jacob said their reactions vary. “Some people don’t want to see the dog. Some children go completely nuts.” Jacob chaperones Blizzard all over the hospital. “I always make a point to visit the waiting room, because people are stressed out or bored or anxious, and seeing a dog makes a difference,” she said. “Up on the psych wards, he is terrific. They talk about their own animals, and people smile a lot.”

A special memory: “There was this little boy who had his head cut open for some kind of brain operation. He was lying there, out of it, and he looked vaguely at the dog. Blizzard got up on the bed and all of a sudden, the little boy became very animated. He leaned over and put his head on the dog’s head and just lay there. It was very sweet.”

Blizzard’s future: Jacob plans to keep Blizzard in the PAC program until he is 10 years old. Afterwards, she plans to take him to a different setting, such as a hospice. “Dogs tend to get stiff with age,” she said. She will evaluate how Blizzard is doing once he is older to see what will be best for him.

Fitting it all in: For Jacob, being a PAC volunteer allows her to enjoy something outside of her professorial duties. “Most of the time I am teaching, writing books or going to committee meetings. So it’s a real treat to get to do something different,” she said. The PAC program gives Jacob and Blizzard an opportunity to help ailing children and to lighten up a place that can seem very dismal to some. “The program is superb,” Jacob said. “It’s actually a lot of fun.”

“It is definitely bigger,” said Turner Pope, Spring Sing’s executive director. A third-year political science and Spanish major, he has spent the last 13 months preparing for the big day when students’ thunderous applause and cheers will fill the arena with blue and gold pride. “We sold more tickets the first day than filled LATC (Los Angeles Tennis Center) last year. We’ve sold more tickets so far than the Alumni Association has ever sold.”

With expectations running high, Pope said, “We wanted to create a big experience. When you walk in, it’s going to be very different.”

Equipped with a $100,000 budget, a 13-student executive committee — all members of the UCLA Student Alumni Association (SAA) overseen by the UCLA Alumni Association — takes the reins on some major decisions, from casting and budgeting to production design.

The guiding theme on every decision: “Rock Pauley.”

“We’ve done a lot more,” Pope said. “We redesigned the stage. It has much more of a rock concert feel. All the lightboards, the scoreboards… we’ll definitely have fun with that.”

One of the draws, no doubt, is MC Hammer, recipient of the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement, which  has been given every year since 1988 to such notable artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Julie Andrews, Lionel Ritchie and Stevie Wonder.

“We’ve never given an award to someone in hip-hop,” Pope said. “We’re really excited for him to be here.”

Celebrity judges are another draw, but their identities are kept under wraps until the night of the show. “We have some great judges this year, and we’re excited for them, but it’s always a big surprise,” Pope said.

Past judges have included Grammy-nominated Spring Sing alumna Sara Bareilles, Jason Alexander, Sean Astin and Candice Cameron Bure — nostalgically known as “DJ” from the TV show, “Full House.” 

The Company

One of the highlights of Spring Sing, and certainly the most talked-about, is Company, a comedy group that writes and performs skits and produces videos for the show. Its hilarious odes to UCLA traditions and places are among the most anticipated and typically light up the crowd.  

Every year, Spring Sing committee members select a cast of talented undergraduates after a grueling week of auditions, improv exercises and interviews. This year’s 12-person cast met for pitch meetings and rehearsals three or four evenings a week and then spent six weekends taping their videos.

“They’re all brilliant,” said Katya Lavine, a third-year English major and this year’s Company director. “Hearing them pitch scripts in meetings was one of the funniest, greatest experiences, because the stuff they came up with was incredible.”

The talent

Students performing in more than 100 acts competed this year for 17 talent spots before a 10-member panel of judges consisting of SAA members, board members and an adviser on staff with the UCLA Alumni Association.
“In one week, we spent over 40 hours watching auditions,” Pope said. The acts were filmed, scored and split into categories — solos, duets, bands, a capella groups and others — to fill an average of three spots per category, plus one dance group. But that isn’t a hard rule. Pope said he goes with “whatever is the strongest.” Performers have just one chance to make the bill; there are no callbacks.

The selection committee typically deliberates for hours, playing back performance tapes and at times agonizing over their choices. “Some people we can agree on very easily, but it’s hard,” Pope said.

“You do your best, and hopefully they like it,” said Phillip Haro, a fourth-year philosophy major who made the cut to play a song he wrote. “I didn’t want to graduate with regrets that I didn’t try out … Spring Sing is obviously the biggest stage for a UCLA musician. I wanted to see if I could make it. I knew how big a deal it is, especially at the new Pauley Pavilion … This is something I can look back on and be proud of.”

The work

Once the performers were chosen, the Spring Sing talent committee made sure they are as prepared as possible. From late January to mid-May, talent directors attended rehearsals, helping the performers shape their acts. A big focus this year, said Pope, was production.

“My talent directors … wanted better skits, cleaner performances, just overall better production, an exciting show,” Pope said.

In April, two full dress rehearsals took place in Pauley, with students doing their acts on a makeshift “stage” taped off in the  exact shape of what will be the newly designed stage. “Performers get a feel for how big it is, where they’re going. And we get an idea of their needs for props or stage setup,” Pope said. “We even take video of them to send to the lighting company so they can start preparing.”

Based on the energy of the performances, Pope also decides the lineup order. After the last all-cast rehearsal, there are only three more weeks to get it right.

“At that point, everyone is very focused. They’re getting everything perfected,” said Pope.

The energy

What does it take to put on an event of this size?

“My committee is crazy,” Pope said, laughing. “They’re spectacular. they put over 40 hours a week into this … They’re extremely dedicated.”

“I’ve never worked so hard on anything in my life,” Company director Lavine said. “You make sacrifices, you find ways to get it all done. It’s been crazy, but it’s so fun.”

The last thing she wanted to do was take her kids to a crowded, noisy L.A. Dodgers game,  where her PTSD could send her into a tailspin.