Highlighting the events and organizers that play a role in connecting our campus to the city of Davis
By NOAH HARRIS — features@theaggie.org
UC Davis and downtown Davis share a certain closeness that can be hard to find in other parts of the country: the campus is directly connected to the city, and the downtown area is reachable in minutes. With many students living downtown, there is a functioning relationship that benefits both the university and the city overall.
Some ways this connection manifests itself are through the annual Dive into Downtown, an event during first-year Aggie Orientation and the end-of-year UC Davis graduation.
There are many first-year students coming to Davis to start the new school year. This year, UC Davis expects around 9,600 new undergraduate students — a 4% increase from the previous year. After they arrive, they go through a mandatory three-day orientation program. This includes events such as a welcome rally, a football game and a campus tour. On the last day of orientation, the Dive into Downtown occurs.
Before 2020, UC Davis’ orientation was a series of three-day programs throughout the summer, with students participating at different times. In 2020, when orientation was completely remote due to COVID-19, the current plan was put into place. This involves every first-year student participating in orientation at the same time, as well as transfer student orientation, which occurs a couple of days prior.
Brett Lee, the current executive director of the Davis Downtown Business Association (DDBA), revealed how many students he was told attend orientation each year.
“The number they’ve used is about 3,000 transfer students and 8,000 freshmen,” Lee said.
While there is not a specific itinerary or location in downtown for this event, it is run by the DDBA every year. Their events intend to support the economic well-being of the DBID, which are the Davis Businesses in Downtown, according to the DDBA.
Traditionally, the event has been a simple walk through downtown with an orientation leader showing their students around and various businesses offering discounts for students to use.
Julia Carlson, a third-year orientation leader and sociology and psychology double major, explained what the role of an orientation leader is.
“We walk around, show them stores,” Carlson said. “It’s basically just to show them one of the fun parts of Davis and get them excited about living here.”
Dive into Downtown is not about potential sales and profits, according to Brett Maresca, the former executive director of the DDBA. Instead, the event is much more about interaction and creating a good first impression of the city for incoming students.
“Realistically, it wasn’t about one day of sales, it’s really trying to create a connection with the students and more with the university,” Maresca said.
Lee had similar thoughts about the culture behind the event and discussed the importance of helping to introduce new students to the downtown area, as well as the importance of getting to know local businesses.
“Something like [Dive into Downtown] is beneficial to the downtown businesses as well, because it introduces their business to students who in most cases will be in Davis from anywhere from two to four years,” Lee said.
Yelena Ivaschenko, owner of the downtown store Bohème Threads and former marketing committee chair of the DDBA, said she strongly supports Dive into Downtown and its effect on the community.
“I think it’s one of the greatest collaborations between UC Davis itself and the downtown businesses,” Ivaschenko said. “After a very slow and brutal summer where sales are impacted after students are out of town, it’s very nice.”
For many students, Dive into Downtown is not exactly considered a highlight activity. For first-years, it is scheduled for the last day of orientation, a Sunday, when many students are not in attendance due to factors such as the heat. However, Lee was optimistic about the impact this event can still make.
“What we want to do is make it worthwhile, because we’ve all gone to some things [where] you’re like, ‘Can I get my hour back?’” Lee said. “Ultimately, we want this to be one of the favorite [orientation events].”
This event is not the only opportunity for downtown Davis to receive an influx of people. With over 12,000 degrees being handed out for graduating students, thousands of graduates and their families typically come to Davis during the summer months.
However, graduating students in 2023 and beyond have relocated to the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento as a result of heat-related issues during the 2022 ceremony on the football field. While the Golden 1 can host a capacity of over 17,000 people, this still poses issues for downtown businesses back in Davis.
Many have suggested that the U Center, where UC Davis sports teams play, would assist in keeping graduates and their families in Davis. The U has previously hosted graduation before it was moved to the football field.
Ivaschenko said she was sad about this loss to the community.
“The graduation ceremony being removed from the county itself is the biggest loss, the biggest disconnection,” Ivaschenko said. “The impact is tremendous. People are not staying in Davis, we are seeing a huge decrease in sales.”
Lee said he was sympathetic to the university, but noted the community-wide reaction to this change from downtown business.
“To have it in a temperature-controlled environment makes sense,” Lee said. “[However], a lot of the downtown businesses were very concerned when it was announced that graduation would be at the Golden 1 Center.”
Maresca said that aside from Dive into Downtown, there are not many collaborations between downtown and UC Davis.
“We’d love to see the university put more effort into continuous connection with local businesses,” Maresca said. “The city makes this university, and the university also makes this city.”
Dive into Downtown and UC Davis graduation are two very different events. One happens at the start of the college journey and the other at the end. However, they are both opportunities to connect the university to its downtown — the hope for downtown businesses is to increase that connection in the future.
By: NOAH HARRIS — features@theaggie.org
