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After a 45-minute drive north through traffic on the 405 Freeway along a labyrinth of other highways and roads winding away from campus, about 12 undergraduates went to another class last Wednesday – only this time they were the teachers.

The students are part of one of the Community Service Commission’s projects, Bruins Reforming Incarceration Through Education, and each sat down and helped tutor juveniles in the Vernon Kilpatrick School, a detention center for young offenders.

One of 22 projects funded by the Community Service Commission, BRITE’s project directors were excited their finances will be boosted by the PULSE referendum that passed two weeks ago.

“The money that’s going to be going toward the transportation is going to have the most impact for us,” said one of BRITE’s directors Amber Yglesias. “That’s where we’re always short every quarter.”

“These kids who are coming from low socioeconomic status ... don’t have the resources that some other people have,” said fourth-year sociology student Aaron Allen.

Three groups of students visit the detention center once each week on Mondays, Wednesdays or Thursdays, and spend two hours one-on-one with the juveniles teaching basic math and reading.

Allen says he sometimes brings in rap lyrics to help with lessons.

“I have (my student) read it and have him explicate it. Then I have him reflect on his life. I hear what he has to say,” Allen said.

Others bring in books such as John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” while some create practice math tests to quiz their student’s knowledge of multiplication tables and division.

Tom Barr, deputy probation officer at the detention center, said each juvenile’s interactions and conversations with students are more important than the tutoring.

Many of the juvenile inmates don’t have any positive role models in their life, or they don’t know people their age who are doing positive or constructive activities, Barr said.

It costs $86 to use one van each day, Yglesias said, and at three days a week sometimes with two vans, the price tag can get pretty high.

Yglesias said each quarter she and the other directors have to ask for additional funds three to four times to keep transportation available for her project.

“It’s really frustrating because we’re all full-time students, and we all have jobs. Every time we have to fill out an application, it takes time,” Yglesias said.

Community Service Commissioner-elect Farheen Malik said the referendum will help pay for new vans and upkeep, adding that free and easy transportation services are a good incentive for students donating their time to projects.

“Transportation is extremely expensive,” Malik said. “We’re always paying for transportation. Since all of our sites are in the L.A. community, we want to be able to provide the service for UCLA students.

Malik said the PULSE referendum was necessary not only because of deficits, but also because the commission is growing and will incur additional costs.

Yglesias said BRITE is larger this year than it ever has been, and the referendum’s passage is evidence that students value the project and the volunteer’s commitment.

“If (PULSE) didn’t pass, I would have been really discouraged,” Yglesias said, adding that she knew it would be difficult for students to swallow because they naturally don’t want to pay more money.

“When it did pass, we were really happy that the students were willing to support and pay an extra $6.50 for us to go out in the community,” she said.