SSCERT-HumTech Summer Picnic

UCLA

Aug 2026: SSCERT-HumTech Picnic

Whole roast pig.

Thanks Bobby for reserving the space.

Michelle and Joy.

Jewell and her partner.

Q, Broson, and Gerard.

Laughter.

Diego brings a stack of pizza.

Abel and Q.

Ribs are delicious.

Dumplings are also delicious.

Salwa carving the ribs.

Kevin brought smoked salmon.

Mumoo dan tat.

Trandew and Mike with the newest prospective employee.

Michelle doesn't believe Joe had a kid.

Hi Baby Aaron!

HumTech hanging out.

We packed this pavilion.

Dessert is good.

Patrick attacking the pizza tower.

High-level people from the dean's office.

Siva brought pad thai.

Wally and Lisa.

Joe is a master on the grill.

Being spoiled with waygu.

Deal Abel dishes out waygu.

The Kong family arrives.

Caroline's spam musubi.

The Lee family arrives.

Paul, Joy, Kevin, and Stephanie.

More meat on the grill.

Brian, Siva, and Paul.

The new challenge coin.

Mike and Andara chatting away.

Vivian, Danny, and Trandrew, all SSCERT alums.

Mike, Wally, and Lisa.

Madison brought lumpia.

Roger brought banh mi.

Tom arrives.

So many people we overflowed the pavilion.

Edward and Aleks break out the chess set.

Chillin' on the grass.

Guido, Lucas, and Carlos, all SSCERT alums.

Kicking around the soccer ball.

Marie Callendar's peach pie.

Joe and Lulu, Trandrew and TiffA, both with new babies.

Randy's Donuts.

Lulu, Joe, Aaron, Abel, Mike.

Found the history IT manager, Frank.

Party starting to wind down.

Edward and Jakob, both SSCERT alums.

Joy brought a drone.

Joy and her fancy drone.

Trandrew and son.

AJ, BK, and Kenny apparently all play chess.

Jerry and Esther. Hubert.

Hubert.

Mike with Mandy and Kai.

Children demand a lot of attention.

Jason brought che thai.

Hahan and Edward. Aleks.

Aleks.

The pizza stack is getting smaller.

Megumi helping with potential leftovers.

The Kong kids brought lots of toys.

Yuna, BK, and AJ.

Final stragglers shutting the party down.

Turns out last year's SSC Summer Picnic was indeed the last one, but not in the way we expected. Aka, welcome to the first SSCERT-HumTech Summer Picnic, held this year at Vincent Lugo Park in Alhambra.

Had a crazy good turnout, completely filling the large pavilion that Bobby booked for us, and while I don't recall any formal head counts, what felt like 50, 60, 70, 80 people over the course of the afternoon seemed to pass through. We had a massive amount of food as usual, with some new additions this year, including a smoker brought on-site (!), an ice machine, and I honestly did not track what else. Whole roast pig, waygu, smoked salmon, chicken wings (including fresh smoked!), sausages, banh mi, pie, pizza, ribs, donuts, dan tat, potstickers, pad thai, spam musubi, che thai, lumpia, eclairs, egg rolls, mac and cheese, chips, salad, roast chicken, watermelon, cookies, and so much more made an appearance-- but then to my surprise people did a great job taking things home, as the refrigerator at work was, amazingly, not totally overflowing with food afterwards.

The usual highlights all made it, including many familiar SSCERT alums, friends of SSCERT and HumTech, and all their families, and it was particularly good to see so many from the dean's office as well, including Dean Abel himself. I feel like I should credit everyone who contributed to the massive spread but I know I such a listing would be painfully incomplete, so to that end I will only say this is an amazing experience because of everyone who made it.

Now to starve myself until next year so I have room to eat for 2027's picnic.