Ela Schulz concluded her term as a board director of Isla Vista Community Services District in December of 2024 after serving for two years, where she helped improve public safety in Isla Vista.
Ela Schulz served as an IVCSD Board Director from 2023 to 2034. Courtesy of Ela Schulz
The fourth-year political science and history double major originally assumed the role after founding Board President Ethan Bertrand stepped down in December 2022, to fill out the rest of his four-year term. During her term, she worked as an ambassador for I.V. Safe, worked on the Spring Festival Committee and helped draft resolutions to improve I.V.
Schulz said that despite not having any prior experience in government, she helped former Director Olivia Craig and current President Spencer Brandt campaign in the Isla Vista Community Services District (IVCSD) midterm elections in 2022. When Bertrand stepped down, Schulz saw her opportunity to become a board director herself.
“I was informed that the position opened, and I was like, ‘There’s no way that I can pass this up.’ This is exactly the type of work I want to do. I want to see community impact. I want to help people, and this is a really good way to get involved with that and get working on that sort of work,” Schulz said.
On top of being a board director for the IVCSD, Schulz is also president of UC Santa Barbara’s Model United Nations Club. She was admitted to UCSB as a biology major with aspirations of becoming a doctor, but quickly switched to history and political science due to her love of history and interest in politics for her career.
Schulz noted that when she initially assumed the role, one of her biggest goals was to “make sure somebody’s life was improved.” As a member of the Spring Festival Committee, an event that serves as an alternative to Deltopia, she said she indirectly helped community members get food, water and access to paramedics during one of the most attended events of the year.
“Getting to go outside and walk around I.V. and see the benefit that we were clearly having, and the amount of people that wanted to go and the people that wanted to participate with it is probably one of the things I’m the most proud of. It was really, really lovely to see the work that we’re doing in practice,” Schulz said.
Schulz also helped draft a resolution, which was passed, condemning the 2023 movie “Deltopia,” based on the real event. Schulz said the movie idolizes Deltopia, making it appealing to high schoolers and is “not particularly positive in depicting our community.”
“We were so concerned about the potential impact that it could have on especially high schoolers or anybody else watching the movie and thinking they would get the wrong idea about what was actually occurring,” Schulz said.
Given that IVCSD boards have historically been majority male, Schulz noted that as a woman, she felt one of the biggest issues she wanted to address coming into the board was general safety.
“It’s not something that is as prevalent for men in communities, as it’s just not something they often think about,” Schulz said. “Being safe walking alone at night, walking back at night or just being generally out and about was a very, very important thing that I wanted to focus on while being on the board. While I have had no bad experiences in feeling unsafe in Isla Vista, it was a very big goal of mine to make that as universal as possible for all women and people in the community.”
As far as how she improved public safety, Schulz noted a particular evening when she surveyed areas of I.V. that lacked sufficient lighting, which were eventually accommodated.
She also brought up her work with I.V. Safe, a community task force that addresses public safety issues. She helped contribute to the installation of their free 24/7 health vending machine outside the Isla Vista Community Center, which contains Narcan and fentanyl test strips.
“I am incredibly comforted to know that we have facilities like that available,” Schulz said. “Knowing we have that available is something I feel very grateful to have been a part of and very grateful to have.”
As a student, Schulz expressed difficulties stemming from being a younger member of the board. She said that despite any preparation she had done, there were aspects she “wasn’t understanding in the same way” as older members, an example being when she joined the Library Committee.
“I was the least educated on library systems or figuring out what exactly was going on with libraries. But in the nine months that I was on that commission, I learned so much about how libraries worked, and the interaction that Isla Vista and Goleta and Santa Barbara all have, and the way that we’re working to get book availability to local community members. Especially in Isla Vista, given we don’t have a public library in Isla Vista as a territory,” Schulz said.
Schulz noted a pay plan she helped implement last year for the Isla Vista Community Center for renting community spaces.
Schulz said that when she thinks of the impact she left on IVCSD, she feels it is “comforting.”
“There’s only so much that one person can do, but I did try to put in my very best and put in a lot of work and try to see something really beneficial for the community. So even if I was only impacting the life of one person, it is very comforting to me to know that I did that work, and I did get to see the impact of the work, even if it was on a one-person scale or a two-person scale,” Schulz said. “It is very comforting to know that the work I put in was my best work.”
Schulz expressed that while she is sad she couldn’t serve for longer, she felt she dedicated the work and time she “wanted to put in.” She said she was glad to serve as a board director since she was worried that she wasn’t going to be able to “help the community in the way [she] wanted.”
Schulz continued to express her gratitude towards I.V., especially considering she spent her first year in Tropicana Gardens, which is university-owned housing located in I.V.
“I cannot emphasize enough how amazing the people I’ve worked with are. It was 100% worth it,” Schulz said. “Getting to work with these people and learning from them, and getting to just be a part of a local community government, which I had never done before, was one of the highlights of my college experience.”
As for what’s next for Schulz, she said she “adores” local government and plans on pursuing it in the future. She aims to move to either Washington D.C. or Sacramento to get involved with campaigns and governance. She also plans to eventually attend graduate school.
“I’m confident that sometime in my future I will do local government again because this is one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever been able to have,” Schulz said.
A version of this article appeared on p. 5 of the Feb. 27, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
