Pepperdine Graphic 1-31-19

Volume xLVIII | Issue 13 | PEPPERDINE-GRAPHIC.COM | JANUARY 31, 2019

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Courtesy of Mikke Pierson

THE GRAPHIC

Reel Stories this Friday b1

FIGHTING THE FLAMES

Caught in the Blaze| A Malibu home burns Nov. 9 in the Woolsey Fire, one of more than 400 homes were destroyed. c ar o l ine edwar d s s enio r r ep o r t er Malibu residents spent sleepless, anxiety-ridden nights fighting the Woolsey Fire after refusing to evacuate.

As the Woolsey Fire approached Malibu on Nov. 9, residents debated whether to stay and protect their homes or to follow evacuation orders. A mandatory evacuation order was issued at 7 a.m., for Malibu but people stayed to protect their homes and neighborhoods, including Council Member Mikke Pierson.

“I think, growing up in Malibu, the thing I think all of us that have been here a long time share [is] a realization that we know fire is coming,” Pierson said. “We're not surprised. We're not shocked and, you know, as you hear people yelling and screaming, the ones that have been here their whole lives seem to know a little more. Listen, fire was coming and you've got to be ready.

With that said, we all see things that were done horribly in this fire.”

Choosing to Stay The Woolsey Fire started north of the 101 Freeway on Nov. 8, but quickly jumped the freeway and began approaching Malibu by 2 a.m. on Nov. 9.

Pierson and his son Emmet, along with a few neighbors, stayed to protect their Malibu West neighborhood.

Pierson said he has lived in Malibu his entire life and never once evacuated. He lost his childhood home in the Mandeville Canyon Fire in 1978 and saved his mom from her home just before it burned from The Old Topanga Fire in 1993.

“Emmet and I stayed, which was not a popular decision at the time,” Pierson said. “But when I look at a fire like this, I stayed to make sure the neighborhood didn’t burn down because of embers. I had no idea exactly where it was going.”

Pierson said he never felt unsafe and was always prepared with full gear, hoses, helmets and goggles.

Meanwhile, then-Pepperdine senior, Thomas

Ryan, who lives in Bonsall Canyon with his parents, said he fought the fire in his Lululemon pants and T-shirt. Ryan said he stayed behind with his dad and felt prepared with a 150foot fire hose and pump, as well as fire retardant, which kept his house wet.

“For a while I didn't really think [the fire] was going to get to our house, but it got real when we started seeing the flames,” Ryan said.

Ryan said his dad woke him up at 7 a.m.

Meanwhile, Pierson said he woke up at 2 a.m. when his sister-in-law had to evacuate from Malibou Lake. Both Pierson and Ryan said they stayed because they wanted to protect their homes and neighborhoods from embers, which caused hot spots in both of their neighborhoods.

“If you're not there, those flames grow and then they end up spreading and then consuming the house,” Ryan said.

“We wanted to be there to put out any ember fires.”

Pierson said he saved

three homes by putting out hot spots. He said he worked with his neighbors to combat the fire as it came down Trancas Canyon, saving most of the houses in Malibu West. Pierson said his neighborhood lost approximately 20 of 180 homes.

“We knew in our hearts that if the first houses at the top the canyon caught fire, you know right there the whole neighborhood would go because it'd be dominoes," Pierson said.

"There'd be no way to stop it. So we made our stand and we did save those houses, but a couple near the top ended up burning.”

Ryan said staying at his house allowed him to save his neighbors’ homes as well as his own, although his shed caught fire and was unable to be saved. He said he slept in his car in front of his home to check on his home.

Problems with Staying Firefighters Kevin Jensen and Dave Hay said they understood why people refused to

evacuate if they owned a property in Malibu, but cautioned against it.

“I think I’d want to stay and defend my house too, but you have to know the dangers,” Hay said. “You can’t wait too long to leave.”

Hay and Jensen said evacuations are important because if people don’t leave, the firefighters could be doing a body recovery. However, the lack of firefighters and resources was a big issue for the Woolsey Fire.

“We didn't see one firefighter on our streets for days,” Ryan said.

“They weren't there on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday or Tuesday.

And I don't really blame them. So many houses were burning, there was so much to do that it's almost like, ‘How can they just choose to stop at a certain house and start fighting a fire?’”

Pierson said he fought the fires in Malibu West without any help from firefighters for four hours and when a truck from San Diego arrived, he said he never fought “with” them.

Do celebrity endorsements make a difference for environmental organizations? check it out on A5

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Controversial debate comes to campus ashley mo w r eader new s ass i s ta n t

Freedom of speech is guaranteed for Americans under the Bill of Rights, but are college campuses restricting that right? This is the question the School of Public Policy's forum seeks to address.

"Are American College Campuses 'Free Speech' Zones?" will take place Thursday Jan. 31 through Pepperdine's School of Public Policy, partnering with Steamboat Institute. The event will be a discussion between University of Pennsylvania Law School Professor Amy Wax and Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz. Professor Robert Kaufman of the Pepperdine School of Public Policy will moderate the event.

"This discussion will provide insight from different points of view as to whether American campuses are 'free speech zones,'" according to the Pepperdine Public Policy website.

Pete Peterson, the dean of the School of Public Policy, said in a phone interview this event is part of a larger goal of the School of Public Policy to en-

courage viewpoint diversity.

"This is the concept of, whether in campus speakers, or academic hiring or just in what in students can say in the classroom, there's a respect for diversity in opinion," Peterson said. "We're hoping it's another step in showing how people, even at different parts of the political spectrum, can agree on the importance of the freedom to express your opinion and to do it in a civil way. " Peterson said the School of Public Policy also wants to show viewpoint diversity not just for conservative people or for people of faith, but to encourage all people to feel free to share their ideas and beliefs.

"As a policy school, we're preparing people to go into politics, and that's a pretty rough field these days," Peterson said.

"But at the same time, I think if we can prepare people both in the classroom and through events like this to talk about contentious issues in a civil way, frankly, that's the only way we're going to solve the biggest challenges that are facing the country and our communities."

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We're hoping it's another step in showing how people, even at different parts of the political spectrum, can agree on the importance of the freedom to express your opinion and to do it in a civil way pete peterson, dean of the school of public policy

This is not the first time Pepperdine has hosted controversial speakers. In April, conservative political commentator and writer Ben Shapiro spoke about acceptable political discourse and institutionalized racism. The sold-out event caused a stir on campus and

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prompted a discussion between club leaders, students and faculty on how to best create a welcoming and respectful atmosphere.

Shapiro said this meeting was a "bitch-fest," which he later partially retracted and said, “I apologize for calling it a bitch-fest if it was not, in fact, a bitch-fest." People who supported or opposed Shapiro's views attended the event and were allowed to question Shapiro in a question and answer session.

"Are American College Campuses 'Free Speech' Zones?" may not be as controversial as hosting Shapiro, but both Wax and Dershowitz are known as prominent figures in this debate.

Peterson said there has been little to no pushback from this event however, which is encouraging to him, as it shows a general support.

The event is not designed for a particular audience but rather to make a space for open and honest deliberation and disagreement, Peterson said.

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Alan Dershowitz

ROBERT kaufman

AMY WAX

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P E P P E R DINE GR A P HIC M E DIA | N E W S | J A N U A RY 3 1 , 20 1 9

Clean up the clutter madeleine carr news editor It had been a long day, and I was ready for bed.

Moisturizing routine?

Done.

Teeth brushed? Check.

Homework done?

Somehow, yes.

However, sleep was not in the cards for me.

I returned to my room to see it – a huge black spider crawling up the wall abutting my bed. I’m not afraid of spiders, but this one needed to go.

Calmly, I grabbed some tissues, ready to capture my new arachnid roommate, but it suddenly fell into the space between my bed and the wall.

Operation Find the Spider had begun. However, in the process, I had to pull out boxes and bags, dust-covered from months of lying untouched under my bed.

I didn’t find the spider – something that still keeps me up at night – but I did discover how much unnecessary stuff I’ve been holding on to, just in case I need it. I’ve never needed an ironing board or a blender, yet I’ve kept them around, taking up the precious storage space under my bed.

Not only are these things taking up space, but they’re not being used when there’s countless people out there in need.

With TV shows like “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” growing more popular, it’s my hope that more turn to simplicity over quantity. Check under beds and in closets for things that haven’t seen the light of day for a while.

Don’t buy another shirt if there’s already a similar-looking one in a drawer at home. Donate unused items and reorganize your living space.

Maybe then you’ll be able to find the unwelcome spider that makes its way into your room.

THE DPS REPORTS Check out pepperdine.edu/publicsafety for the DPS Reports every week

1 2 3 4 5

1/25/19 2:10 a.m.

Crimes: Alcohol-Related/ Non-Criminal - Individual(s) Drinking or Intoxicated on Campus Location: Seaver Drive Booth

2

1/25/19 7:40 p.m.

Crimes: Assault/Battery Sex Crimes - Sexual Battery Location: Knott House

4

1/25/19 7:43 p.m.

Crimes: Alcohol-Related/ Non-Criminal - Individual(s) Drinking or Intoxicated on Campus Location: Chapel

Editor’s Note: This is the second sexual crime reported this semester. In the Jan. 24 edition of the Graphic, the DPS Reports included a report of “forcDrescher (North) ible rape, including date rape and sexual battery.”

According to the report, the event took place Jan. 15 and was reported to DPS on Jan. 16. Both incidents are currently “under investigation,” according to the university. While sexual assault is “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient,” sexual battery is “an unwanted form of contact with an intimate part of the body that is made for the purposes of sexual arousal, gratification or abuse,” and can include intimidation or threats, according to Her Campus at VCU.

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1/26/19 1:26 a.m.

Crimes: Drug-Related Possession of Marijuana Location: Knott House 1/27/19 10:24 p.m.

Crimes: Traffic-Related - Traffic Enforcement Reckless Driving Location: Seaver Drive

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Alumni field (South)

UPCOMING EVENTS THIS SEMESTER What: ch ris tian mingle when: 2/ 12 Wher e: c cb 10 0

Wh at: wir ed for love Wh e N: 2/13 Wh e re : Fir eside r oom

What: wellness w eek chapel Whe N : 2/18 Whe re : fir eside room

W hat: ou t of many fai t hs : rel i g i ou s di vers i t y and t he ameri c an p romi s e W he N: 2 / 1 9 W he r e : el k i ns au di t ori u m

W hat: art i s t tal k : g i b s on/ mart el l i W he N: 2 / 1 9 W he r e : s u rf b oard room

c onvo c re dit and other e ve n ts this we e k FRI. 1

What: c e le br ation chapel When: 9 a .m. and 10 a.m.

Wher e: a m ph i theater

MON. 4

Wh at: spanish chapel Wh e n: 10:10 a.m.

Wh e re : stauffer chapel

What: re e ls tor ies film fe s tiva l x When: 6 p.m.

Wher e: mullin town s qua re

TUES. 5

Wh at: ger man chap el Wh e n: 10 a.m.

Wh e re : stauffer c hap el Wh at: Lectur e” mi c hael levine, “secr ets o f s u p er success: lessons f rom a car eer as a P r ex ec u t i ve” Wh e n: 10 a.m.

Wh e re : sur fboard room

WEDS. 6

W hat: wednes day c hap el W he n: 1 0 a. m.

W he r e : f i res t one f i el dhou s e W hat: c hi nes e c hap el W he n: 1 1 : 05 a. m.

W he r e : c c b 3 4 0 W hat: men’s vol l ey b al l vs. by u W he n: 7 p. m.

W he r e : f i res t one f i el dhou s e

THURS. 7

W hat: danc e i n f l i g ht W he n: 8 p. m.

W he r e : s mot hers t heat re W hat: l ec t u re: b et h c al dwel l , “ dep ort ed americ ans : l i f e af t er dep ortat i on t o mex i c o” W he n: Noon W he r e : s u rf b oard room

MADELEINE.CARR@PEPPERDINE.EDU

ppgraphic Graphic //The PLUG IN: // PLUG IN: Plug in:

@PeppGraphic

peppgraphic TheIN: Graphic peppgraphic The Graphic //The Graphic PLUG

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J A NUA RY 3 1 , 2 0 1 9 | N E W S | P E P P E R DINE G RA P H I C ME D I A

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FIRE: Residents tell their stories FR OM A 1 he said he never fought “with” them.

Both Jensen and Hay said staying is not only dangerous, but gets in the way of the firefighters trying to protect homes.

“They’re not trained on what we see and the equipment that we have,” Jensen said. “It’s not just throwing water on fire, especially with the wind conditions we faced.

Everyone makes their own decisions and everyone has ties to their house, but they have to know the consequences.”

Pierson and Ryan said they were aware of the consequences of staying, but were always prepared to evacuate.

“We had our cars ready to go,” Pierson said. “Keys in the ignition. [Cars] turned around ready to go. We had another escape into [a neighbor’s] swimming pool, which is last resort. You don’t want to do that. But we had a plan there and [knew] how to do it successfully. We had multiple escape routes and with that said, I recognize that with fire, if the wind had been another 10 miles an hour ... I think we were near the border of where we would have stayed or left because dying in the fire is not really a good plan.”

Lack of Communication Ryan and Pierson agreed that communication affected the fire, due to a lack of cell service.

Pierson said people used his Instagram for updates on Malibu after he offered to check people’s homes. Pierson said because of the lack of social media and news, he was faced with telling over 120 people about the status of their homes. “[To be] able to send them a picture of it just psychologically is really important,” Pierson said. “It’s hard to see, but it’s way better than finally getting to see it physically

a week later and then realize there’s just nothing left because that’s 98 percent of them. There was nothing left, just rubble. So there were a lot of appreciative people because of the communication, not that their house was burned down. The fact that somebody told them what was going on. That’s what drove people nuts.”

Ryan and Pierson said they were confident in their choices because they were able to save their neighborhoods and help the community.

“If we left, no one was going to protect the house,” Ryan said. “And again, if you’re there, you can put out those small embers and if you’re not, your house has gone.”

Future Policy

Pierson said he was concerned about the amount of people who did not evacuate and who do not want to evacuate in the future.

Pierson said he hopes that Malibu adopts a policy that requires people to have a certification in order to stay and fight the fires, to make people aware and understand the risks of staying, including losing their lives.

“We have to figure out the fact that people aren’t leaving, which scares me,” Pierson said. “It scares me because I know a lot of people were looking at me and my experience as a reason they’re not leaving, but you really got to know what you’re doing if you decide to stay.”

Pierson and Ryan said a lack of water and resources hindered saving houses. Ryan said he had to use pool water to save homes once the power went out, while Pierson said a lack of hoses made it difficult to save homes, as he used a water pick used for gardening when a neighbor didn’t have a garden hose. Pierson said Malibu needs to better prepare for the next fire.

Photos by Mikke Pierson Facing the Flames | Mikke Pierson and son Emmett (above) decided not to evacuate Malibu, but rather chose to remain behind and attempt to fight the fire. D Some Malibu residents chose not to stay and many lost belongings in the fire such as their homes and cars (below). Due to the large number of fires and houses burning, firefighters were not able to protect or save all residential areas.

C A R O LIN E . E D WA RD S @P E P P E RD I N E . E D U

DEBATE: Pepp hosts discussion FR OM A 1 “These are two brilliant people [and so] you’re going to hear extremely thoughtful opinions,” Peterson said. “We need to find opportunity for people of different political persuasions to talk about important issues in civil ways. The university has that phrase, ‘convicted civility,’ and I think [the event] is going to be an evening of how we demonstrate and witness convicted civility right before us.”

The event will take place at 7 p.m. in Smothers Theatre. The event is free to the public and refreshments will be served after. The speakers will be selling their books and participating in a book signing as well. Those interested in attending can register on the Public Policy website or for more information can e-mail sppevents@pepperdine.edu or call 310-506-7490.

AS HLEY.MOWR EADER@ P E P P E R DIN E . E DU

Friendly Forum| The Pepperdine School of Public Policy hosts “Are American College Campuses ‘Free Speech Zones’?” in hopes of encouraging open and honest conversation in the Pepperdine community. Attendees received an email with information (left) with details about the event. This is not the first event the School of Public Policy has hosted with the idea of “viewpoint diversity” at the forefront but rather one of many. The event is open to people who hold all different political opinions and to all members of the Pepperdine community: students, staff and faculty. The School of Public Policy hopes to host more events of a similar style in the future.

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J A N UA RY 3 1 , 2 0 1 9 | N E W S | P E P P E R DIN E G RA P H I C ME D I A

Active Minds club returns to Pepperdine R o wan t o ke A s s i stant new s edit or Senior and Pepperdine Active Minds President Danielle LaForce restarted Pepperdine’s chapter of Active Minds in June.

While it now has more than 450 chapters at various high schools and colleges across the world, the club began in 2003 to educate students about mental health and give them a safe space.

“Because of the stigma surrounding mental health, people don’t want to talk about it,” LaForce said in a phone interview.

“So having this club is a starting point of a movement to remove that stigma but also to foster inclusivity.”

LaForce said she was very excited about joining the club her sophomore year, but the club went inactive. Since she has always been very passionate about mental health, she decided to restart the club herself.

LaForce said she understands the tendency to overcommit and how easy it is to get stressed when you’re a student, which is why this club is so necessary for Pepperdine students.

Unlike a normal club, however, Active Minds and its members do not just operate on campus.

“We are a national movement to start conversation surrounding mental health,” LaForce said.

Similar to the chapters at USC and UCLA, Pepperdine’s chapter of Active Minds “aim[s] to try and remove the stigma associated with mental health on campus,” LaForce said.

In the short number of months that Pepperdine’s Active Minds Club-

has been functioning, numerous students have expressed interest and 54 have become committed, LaForce said.

Eddie Matthiessen, a sophomore and the Vice President of Social Media for Pepperdine’s chapter, said in a phone interview that he joined the club to relieve any stigma or pressure about mental health.

“ We are a national movement to start conversation surrounding mental health Danielle laForce Pepperdine Active Minds President

“In the past, I have dealt with mental issues and it would have been much easier for me to reach out if I didn’t feel pressured or judged, and that is what I want to bring to Pepperdine,” Matthiessen said.

Matthiessen said it is very important to him that they are giving stu-

dents somewhere that they can freely talk to people their own age about real issues.

Active Minds Club member Joanna Pena is a junior at Pepperdine. She said she joined the club because like LaForce, she is very passionate about mental health.

“I want to be a part of something meaningful,” Pena said in a phone interview. “There are people struggling because they don’t get the help they need because there is such a stigma that surrounds the topic.”

Pena said Pepperdine is no exception for that, as she has seen people neglect their mental health.

She said she hopes to break the stigma and help people understand what resources they have.

Pepperdine’s Active Minds Club is constantly taking action to support students, Matthiessen said.

Matthiessen said hosting on-campus events not only gives students an opportunitys to learn about the club, but also the ability to reach out if they need help.

Pena said even though they are a very new club, they are already planning events for Mental Health Awareness week and brainstorming new ideas. “[We are] confident our team will carry on this club and establish it at Pepperdine for years to come,” LaForce said.

RO WA N .T O KE @P E P P E RD I N E . E D U

Courtesy of Danielle LaForce Helping Hands| Active Minds Club members sophomore Eddie Matthiessen, left and junior Josh Corban, right, table at Culture Fest and Club Fair to promote the club and encourage their peers to join the team.

Photo Courtesy of International Programs

Better Together | The Active Minds club meets together to discuss and create a space to share. The club was inactive for two years, but thanks to the hard work of LaForce and her team, the international club’s chapter was reestablished at Pepperdine on the Malibu campus.

Jumpstart takes a hop back Ashl ey Mo w r eader new s ass i s tan t With over a month of missed class time, Pepperdine Jumpstart members face major disruptions in the program.

“It’s been kind of a lot,” freshman Lauren Kula said.

“November happened, so because of the fires and everything, we didn’t have Jumpstart for basically a month.

And now with the LA teacher strike, it’s pushing our curriculum back even more.”

Jumpstart is an Americorps program designed to help further early education in schools around the nation, according to the Pepperdine Jumpstart website. The program teaches preschool aged kids important language and literacy skills to equip them for kindergarten and beyond.

The Pepperdine Volunteer Center organizes the Pepperdine corps of Jumpstart, one of the largest in the nation with nearly 100 students participating each year in 12 different schools, according to the PVC website. But this year’s Jumpstart team members face unusual obstacles.

“November was a very in-

teresting month for Jumpstart because we didn’t have session for a long time,” freshman Cameron Zohary said. “It was hard not working with the kids. I know they get so excited to see us, we make their ‘bi-weekly’ moments.”

Kula said the Jumpstart curriculum centers around 20 books. During the first session

“

It's really good to change these children's lives and shape their education. I think everyone should pay attentin to early childhood education, because they are our future Mackenzie Mazen, Junior

of the week, Jumpstart workers read with the kids, and at the second session, they ask the kids to remember and retell the story.

“We still want to maintain that system because we think it’s really important for the kids to not only engage with the story but remember it so they can apply the lessons of the books to themselves,” Kula said. “In terms of the time that’s gone away, we just have to continue along with the curriculum, and if we don’t get to some of the books at the end, it’s okay because what really matters is that they glean a lot of meaning from what we do cover.”

Junior Mackenzie Mazen, a Jumpstart team leader, said the missed days have not only made it harder to finish the curriculum but also to earn the required hours for the government stipend.

“A lot of people are nowhere close to where they should be because we didn’t have November and then added with the strike,” Mazen said. “We still got hours [through other activities] but it’s nowhere near where we should be and so I think, overall, everyone’s

a little freaked out right now.”

Jumpstart is an hourly wage job for students with Federal Work Study, Mazen said. Students who reach 300 hours receive an additional stipend.

The Woolsey Fire and LA strike has made it hard for students to meet those hours.

Kula works with a team at Chase Early Education Center and she said coming back after this break will be interesting.

“Things might be a little bit hectic because even though it’s our first time back, it’s also the kids getting used to sitting down and having to listen,” Kula said. “They’re kids aged 3 through 5, so they’re very young, very excitable; [it’s] kind of hard to make them sit down sometimes.”

Mazen said after winter break, her team at Limerick Elementary School had one “child center time” in which they just played and interacted with the kids, meaning they have yet to have a normal week with two sessions.

“It was a little weird because we’ve been thrown out of our groove,” Mazen said. “Like, ‘What are we supposed to do?’

‘When are we doing this?’ But the kids were obviously really

excited to see us, which was nice.”

Kula said she supported the teacher strike in LA though it had no direct influence on the Jumpstart program for this school year.

“I think it’s great that the teachers are standing up for what they think is right,” Kula said. “They’re [striking] not necessarily for money or to get better positions for themselves but just [to show] that there’s so much funding lacking in the public education system. They were doing it because the kids deserve better and I really respect that. I’m glad that they’re fighting for things that we need.”

Mazen and Kula both said they are passionate about children and Jumpstart and that they would encourage others to join.

“It’s really good to change these children’s lives and shape their education,” Mazen said. “I love Jumpstart. I’m really passionate about it. I think everyone should pay attention to early childhood education because they are our future.”

ASHL EY.M OW R EADER @PEPPER DINE.EDU

J A N UA RY 3 1 , 2 0 1 9 | N E W S | P E P P E R DIN E G RA P H I C ME D I A

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Celebrity endorsements impact environmental causes Shanno n Hanse n G uest contr i bu t or “Our culture really relies on celebrities — we trust them,” Rick Erkeneff, chairman of the South Orange County chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, said. “They sell us everything from toothpaste to makeup to you name it.

They’re selling us products and we trust and believe them. So, when a celebrity gets behind the environment — if they’re honest and they’re believable — I would say that’s a good thing.”

Celebrity endorsements of products, causes and beliefs has been a viable aspect of fame and culture for decades. But as chart-topping artists and Oscar-winning performers put their influence, star power and money behind causes they care about, one can’t help but wonder how much of an impact it really makes.

Organizations like Surfrider Foundation, Oceana, Ian Somerhalder Foundation and Heal the Bay are made up of dedicated environmentalists as well as celebrity founders and supporters.

“You can pick any celebrity and they’ll all have a cause,” Jefferson ‘Zuma Jay’ Wagner, Mayor of the City of Malibu and founder of the Malibu chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, said. “Most of them do.

Nine out of 10 will have a cause. And if they don’t, it may be more philanthropic and not as much environmental but locally, we get it all the time.”

Erkeneff said celebrities can have positive influence on a cause if they truly and deeply care about that which they are putting their name and star power behind.

“It’s very curious because I believe the right celebrity in the right way works and it works really well,” Erkeneff said. “But that person has to truly believe and truly work for the environment other than just showing up and being a pretty face or a good-looking guy saying, ‘Oh I support the environment.’ You have to practice what you preach.”

According to a Public Library of Science study “The Effectiveness of Celebrities in Conservation Marketing” by Elizabeth Duthie, celebrity endorsements can have both positive and negative effects on the way individuals view an organization.

“Most of the celebrities that live out here, live out here for a reason and that is to keep it as it is and keep it fresh and clean,” Wagner said. “If they wanted to live in Beverly Hills or LA, they could easily be there, but they choose to come out here and protect what they have and that’s doubly valuable because if they live out here, they have to take care of it.”

Celebrities Supporting Local Initiatives “Celebrities are really powerful,” Associate Director of Marketing Communications for Heal the Bay, Talia Walsh, said.

“They have platforms to get the word out, unlike a lot of other people. Celebrities are often very con-

cerned with their public image and they vet the companies they do business with, which is great.”

Walsh said celebrities are able to give the environmental messages they are disseminating a new life by putting their personality into them and allowing them to appeal to wider audiences.

“They’re out here and they’re doing it,” Wagner said of the celebrities who have put their star power behind environmental causes in Malibu specifically. “They do bring awareness to it and that’s the valuable part of having a familiar face that’s seen all through the media.”

Walsh agrees that celebrity involvement raises awareness and has the ability to foster support for valuable causes. She said Heal the Bay communicated with various musical artists who are interested in putting on charity concerts during their beach cleanups. Young the Giant came out to support Jan. 6, 2018.

“They invited a few hundred of their fans and it was incredible,” Walsh said. “It allowed the fans to connect with their band in a whole new way. I mean, how cool is that – spending a day at the beach with your favorite artist.

It spreads the message to the wider fanbase and music community that this band’s giving back, this band cares and you can too and it’s not that hard.”

Heal the Bay had their Annual Gala May 17, 2018 at the Jonathan Club and rolled out a blue carpet for celebrities, politicians, business leaders and influencers. Last year, the organization honored Zooey Deschanel, best known for her role on Fox’s hit comedy New Girl, as well as her husband Jacob Pechenik for their work on The Farm Project as well as with a program called Lettuce Grow, which is a home delivery service for urban farming.

Wagner said celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio donate money to protecting and revitalizing the local coastal environment.

“Leonardo [DiCaprio] donates to the Wildlife Refuge Foundation right over the hill there in Monte Nido,” Wagner said.

Leonardo DiCaprio also created the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation dedicated to protecting oceans and marine life. He focuses on initiatives such as protecting coral reefs, local beaches, sustaining fisheries, shark conservation and arctic marine protected areas, according to his foundation website.

He even has an initiative called ‘Oceans 5’ with the purpose of protecting and conserving all five oceans across the globe.

Erkeneff said other celebrities that have done wonderful work for the conservation and protection of the environment are Ted Danson from the hit ‘80s and early ‘90s sitcom Cheers, as well as former professional surfer and musician Jack Johnson.

Erkeneff said Danson came out to a ‘No New Offshore Oil Drilling’ rally last February in Laguna Beach to speak. He had the opportunity to interview

Danson for the Surfrider Foundation, where he said Danson told him he worked hard against an oil project at Will Rogers State Beach in the ‘70s and over time got it blocked.

Directly following that, he began developing his own nonprofit environmental organization now widely known as Oceana.

Erkeneff, like Walsh, also discussed the great work musicians have done to make an impact on protecting the environment, specifically noting the work Johnson has done with and for the Surfrider Foundation. “[Johnson] kind of stumbled into becoming a world-famous musician by accident — by doing soundtracks for surf movies,” Erkeneff said. “But he was a Surfrider member doing beach cleanups as well as being a pro surfer way back in the day.”

Erkeneff emphasized the authenticity of Johnson’s support for the cause he stands behind in how he ensures all his concerts and events are eco-friendly.

Erkeneff also said Eddie Vedder, frontman of the band Pearl Jam and an avid surfer, is another great contributor to environmental causes. Erkeneff said Vedder once wore a Surfrider t-shirt onstage during a performance at Doheny Days, an annual music festival on the beach of Dana Point that “embraces the eco-conscious beach/surf culture of SoCal,” according to its website.

“There’s a lot of examples of celebrities that have done it before they were celebrities and then they continue to use their platform, their voice, to spread a good word,” Erkeneff said.

Why People Should Care

“ E nv i ro n m e nt a l ly, we’re in a precarious place,” Erkeneff said. “I look back at my life for the last 50 years and say, ‘Wow I’m really lucky I was born when I was born, where I was born, and got to live the life that I got to live.’ But when I look at my kids, and their kids if they have them, and their kids, the world is completely changed and what I got to experience, they in some cases won’t and it saddens me because we had a really great environment, clean water, and not much air pollution.”

A BBC article titled “Ocean Plastic Could Triple in a Decade” by Roger Harrabin reported that “the amount of plastic in the ocean is set to triple in a decade unless litter is curbed.”

Another article from Forbes by Trevor Nace titled: “Idyllic Caribbean Island Covered In A Tide Of Plastic Trash Along Coastline,” reported that an estimated “51 trillion micro plastic particles” are currently floating in the ocean and being consumed by marine mammals.

Reports such as these are examples for why it is paramount people get involved and start making changes now. One step the city of Malibu has taken to minimize plastic pollution is the plastics ban including single-use plastic bags,

“

plastic sandbags, plastic straws, plastic cutlery and polystyrene foam.

So I think the change is happening, it's just incremental and hard to quantify. rick erkeneff, chairman of the south orange county chapter of the surfrider foundation

“For your generation, if you want it to look like this and feel like this, you have to become active at your age now, because it was my generation that created all this pollution and it’s your generation that’s going to have to absorb it and fix it,” Wagner said.

Organizations like Heal the Bay and Surfrider Foundation have regular beach cleanups for the local coastal communities.

Erkeneff said this is one of the most effective ways to get people thinking about changing their behavior.

“The ocean provides food, it provides oxygen, it provides so much stuff,” Erkeneff said. “And if we kill off our ocean in 100 to 200 years, there’s doomsayers that talk about mass extinctions and we’re on the precipice of one of those if things don’t change.”

Wagner echoed the same sentiment with the reminder that there is only one ocean and only one chance to treat it right.

“There’s only one chance at this and once you ruin it, it’s harder to replace it and clean it than it is to not do it in the beginning,” Wagner said.

Celebrities Media

and

Social

With the advent of social media and the new digital landscape, the scope of celebrity endorsements on environmental and philanthropic causes has widened. The ability for celebrities to contribute or support in a public way has become as easy as the tap of a finger on a phone screen.

According to the Duthie study “The Effectiveness of Celebrities in Conservation Marketing,” organizations that utilize celebrity-based marketing use “web analytics, column inches or social media engagement” to measure the impact the celebrity endorsement is having on their organization, suggesting that much of the data used to quantify the worth of celebrity endorsements is falling on modern-day communication practices.

Erkeneff said it is interesting in this new digital age that analytics are able to give people and companies a quantification of their reach. He specifically noted the use of social me-

dia marketing tactics such as boosting posts or paying for ads on Facebook.

Walsh expanded on this, saying social media has really changed the ease celebrities have of being able to get involved and make an impact from wherever they are in the world.

“We’re doing more takeovers of our account, or a day in the life of a professional surfer or a day in the life of an urban farmer,” Walsh said. “We’re showing first-hand information which is really cool and a different way to spread and advocate.”

Walsh said lots of celebrities want to do more digitally to support the organizations of their choice because it is a lesser time commitment and can be done virtually. She said Heal the Bay specifically has felt the effects of social media.

“At our January cleanup [last] year, we had a girl come from Colorado, like took a Greyhound bus just for the day just to go to our clean up and then left and went home,” Walsh said. “We were like ‘How did you hear about it?’ and she was like ‘Social media.

I don’t have a beach near me, but I wanted to start the new year with something new and that I love, and I love the ocean so I decided to travel from Colorado to the cleanup today.’

It just shows you the power of the message spreading and getting it out there and having it be positive.

It’s really crucial and you can kind of form a community from anywhere which is really cool.”

Walsh emphasized this virtual community in speaking of how social media has the potential to reach new audiences and give organizations platforms and voices they may have never had before.

“It helps causes get access to that platform that’s usually reserved for for-profit brands,” Walsh said.

Do Celebrity Endorsements Actually Make an Impact?

“What’s really hard to quantify is a direct result from celebrity endorsement,” Erkeneff said.

A resounding theme in what Erkeneff and Walsh discussed centered around the importance of authenticity in celebrity endorsements.

“Celebrities as well as brands really need to foster partnerships that are legitimate, that are authentic,” Walsh said. “They’re actually doing something in the real world. It’s not just a stunt.”

Duthie reported in her study “The Effectiveness of Celebrities in Conservation Marketing” that “respondents were … more likely to choose a celebrity if they believed he cared about, was knowledgeable about, or was known to support a specified issue.

Celebrities thought to be using an issue to improve or raise his own profile or might be being paid for their involvement were less likely to be preferred.”

Erkeneff furthered this point saying that celebrities better be “walking the walk” if they’re “talking the talk.”

“You can’t just come to the conversation and say something,” Erkeneff said.

“Otherwise there’s just too many ways to discredit both the people that are doing the hard work and the other people that are against them.”

Erkeneff said one of the most valuable things Surfrider does in an attempt to quantify the difference they are making on the environment is with their beach cleanups. They sort through and count the debris they pick up in order to form a baseline across their organization for how many hours they put in for the beaches they are working to protect.

“We really have to change our behavior and how we live our lives,” Erkeneff said. “But I think the word is getting out. I mean I see filling stations at schools and different businesses, and everybody is carrying their water bottles now. So, I think the change is happening, it’s just incremental and hard to quantify.”

Duthie wrote “a key strategy in marketing conservation has been the use of celebrities to promote environmental and conservation NGOs,” suggesting that companies have relied upon celebrity endorsements in the past to create motivation for the public to get involved.

Duthie lists celebrities like Harrison Ford and Leonardo DiCaprio in the study as some famous folk who have put their names behind big environmental causes like climate change.

Ford collaborated with Conservation International which dedicates part of their efforts to the protection of the world’s oceans.

Like Duthie, another study by Johannes Knoll and Jörg Matthes titled “The Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsements: a Meta-Analysis” recorded that effects of celebrity endorsements can be both positive and negative.

“The most positive attitudinal effect appeared for male actors who match well with an implicitly endorsed object,” they wrote.

“The most negative effect was found for female models not matching well with an explicitly endorsed object.”

In light of the importance of authenticity in celebrity support, Erkeneff raised the point that the millennial generation has a filter and “way of discerning whether something is authentic and real.” He juxtaposed this to his own generation and the generation that came before him, saying they were “spoon-fed” information that wasn’t true and many times believed it.

With this in mind, he emphasized just how important it is that celebrities who are standing behind causes actually know what they are supporting and have a passion to help.

“If we collectively come together and try to educate our culture, our society, our world, then we can change,” Erkeneff said.

“And it literally takes one person at a time, as corny as that sounds.”

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M anag i ng Ed i to r m a ry c ate l o n g So c i al M ed i a M anag er m a d i so n n i ch o l s P i x el Ed i to r ella gonzalez o nl i ne p r o d u c er o m a r m u r ph y G New s p r o d u c er a r ace l i c r e sce n c i o c o py c hi ef rya n h a r d i n g s p ec i al ed i ti o n ed i to r ch a n n a ste i n m e tz as si g nm ent ed i to r about k ayi u w o n g LAUSD Strikes New s Ed i to r Madeleine Carr Ass i stant New s Ed i to r r o wa n to k e New s As si s tant a sh l e y m o w r e a d e r S p o r ts Ed i to r sa m fi n n e ga n Ass i stant Sp o r ts Ed i to r s election cycle looming K yl e m c ca b e before us, ideas on how k a r l w i n te r to improve schools will P er s p ec ti v es Ed i to r be highly discussed. It is ga r e n ko soya n important that we are all P er sp ec ti v es ass i stant a r e e ya ku n awa r a d i sa i listening with care, and, L i fe & Ar ts Ed i to r with the knowledge we k at n a n ce gain, be active in upcomas si s tant L i fe & ar ts ing elections by voting ed i to r on issues that affect Caljulia donlon ifornia’s school systems, l i fe & ar ts seni o r like California’s Schools r ep o r ter and Communities First c a r o l i n e e d wa r d s L i fe & Ar ts As si s tant initiative. pi pe r w r i g h t Despite being in P ho to Ed i to r college now, the quality K a elin mendez of education the future as si s tant p ho to generation receives will ed i to r impact us all. Pepperdine m i l a n l o i ac o n o students need to stay inAr t Ed i to r formed, care about their c a i tl i n r oa r k ass i stant ar t ed i to r school systems and vote a l ly a r m str o n g in both local and national C o py ed i to r s elections. All college stuk i l e y d i ste l r ath dents have the power to makena huey make their voices heard. ga b r i e l l e m ath ys Whether it’s through adv er ti s i ng d i r ec to r social media, volunteerb e n h u ya r d ing at a school or going Adv er ti s i ng m anag er ca r o l i n e h e r r o n to a local school board D i r ec to r o f P ep p er d i ne meeting, students have G r ap hi c M ed i a the power to express E l i z a b e th Sm i th their views on making As si s tant D i r ec to r O f the American education P ep p er d i ne G r ap hi c system better.

M ed i a Co u r te n ay Sta l l i n g s

STAFF

⇧ THINKS

Ally Armstrong | Assistant Art Editor

STAFF EDITORIAL The LA Teacher Strike Impacts Us All

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) week-long strike ended last week after teachers pushed for smaller class sizes, higher pay and school nurses, among other demands.

As teachers returned to their classrooms with the promise ensured by the tentative deal, the strikes have continued to ignite a sustained conversation about the education system in Los Angeles and beyond.

As Pepperdine prepares students to become future leaders, teachers and educators, it is imperative that students both care about and engage in conversation about these critical current events. Though it might not seem like this event affects Pepperdine students directly, it does impact students when it comes to where their tax dollars go and the longterm effects of California’s education system.

For some Pepperdine

students, the LAUSD teacher strikes had a direct effect on their lives.

Some students who are already educators and participate in Jumpstart, a program where students teach at various under-resourced preschools in the Los Angeles area, were unable to work due to the strikes.

However, the majority of students are likely affected by these strikes in another way: their tax dollars.

While Pepperdine boasts a diverse student body from all across the United States (and the world), all students pay taxes in California regardless of whether they are residents. The strike ended with negotiations to get more money into schools by revamping California’s property tax system, according to the KTLA article “LAUSD Teachers Back in the Classroom After Deal Brings End to 6-Day Strike.”

At this stage, revamp-

ing California’s property tax system would mean introducing a new initiative, California’s Schools and Communities First, on the 2020 ballot. According to the aforementioned article, this would mean raising property taxes on California businesses, which opponents say could lead to jobs being pushed out of the state and further increase the cost of living in California. This initiative, which stems from the LAUSD strike, has the capacity to directly impact Pepperdine students, particularly those who wish to live and work in California after graduation.

How the government spends people’s tax dollars matters greatly.

In the past two years, there have been massive tax cuts for corporations and wealthy families, yet the push for increasing school budgets is still met with fiscal concerns.

If politicians can find huge dollars for tax cuts,

why can they not find a way to provide more funds for schools?

In the past year, there have been teacher strikes in multiple states, including Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kentucky and West Virginia. The problem of better school funding is not happening in isolation.

All over the United States, teachers are calling for better resources in their classrooms. This week alone, the city of Denver is preparing to go on strike. In Northern California, Oakland will be having a strike authorization vote. Both these cities want similar things: smaller class sizes, more school nurses and counselors and increased pay. Teachers unions are growing momentum for their cause, and this can have significant consequences.

The conversation on how the American education system can be improved is far from over. In fact, with an

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the Editor must bear the writer’s name, signature, class standing, major, address and phone number (except in some circumstances determined appropriate by the Graphic). Letters must be fewer than 300 words and will be edited for syntax, grammar and brevity. Letters can be mailed to student publications or emailed to peppgraphicmedia@ gmail.com

CONTACT US

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SGA passed a resolution to fund a portion of Late Night Breakfast put on by Student Affairs scheduled for Sunday, April 23 from 9:15 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the Waves Cafe.

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Caitlin Roark | Art Editor

Graphic Pepperdine University 24255 Pacific Coast Hwy. Malibu, CA 90263 310-506-4311

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MISSION STATEMENT “Pepperdine Graphic Media (PGM) is an editorially independent student news organization that focuses on Pepperdine University and the surrounding communities. PGM consists of the digital and print Graphic, a variety of special publications, GNews, Currents Magazine, social media platforms and an Advertising Department. These platforms serve the community with news, opinion, contemporary information and a public forum for discussion.

PGM strengthens students for purpose, service and leadership by developing their skills in writing, editing and publication production, by providing a vehicle to integrate and implement their liberal arts education, and by developing students’ critical thinking through independent editorial judgment. PGM participates in Pepperdine’s Christian mission and affirmations, especially the pursuit of truth, excellence and freedom in a context of public service. Although PGM reports about Pepperdine University and coordinates with curricula in journalism and other disciplines, it is a student (not a University) news organization. Views expressed are diverse and, of course, do not correspond to all views of any University board, administration, faculty, staff, student or other constituency.”

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Combat loneliness on campus Ar e e ya Ku n awa ra d isa i per s p e c t i v e s A s sistant On paper, Pepperdine seems like the perfect place for students to have their best, liveliest years with its gorgeous views, D-1 sport games and impressive academics.

In truth, though, almost 70 percent of students indicated having felt moderately to very lonely during the past semester, according to a recent survey conducted by the Graphic and distributed through its social media.

Pepperdine’s isolated location contributes most to this reality of loneliness. The bright side to this isolation, however, is that students can take advantage of Pepperdine’s location and smaller campus by focusing on a few clubs and developing meaningful relationships with a core group of friends.

Perched on a hill in sunny Malibu and looking down on the Pacific Ocean, Pepperdine is picture-perfect. The downside, unfortunately, lies in the fact that its location is far away from almost all kinds of entertainment.

“There’s not a lot to do in Malibu except for going to beaches; so if I ever want to escape the campus, I have to drive for at least half an hour,” freshman Rachel Stenz said. “I usually fill up my gas in Calabasas instead of Malibu, and that still costs about $40.”

More so, it’s even harder for

those individuals who don’t have access to a car on campus to travel to the outside world.

“Coming from Japan, I’m so used to traveling by public transportation,” PGM staff writer Sawa Yamakawa said. “But the ones here are honestly kind of bad, and Uber costs quite a lot. It’s a long weekend right now and all my friends are gone, so I’ve just been sleeping for the past two days.”

Quite literally, the school’s location has created a distance between the students and the world beyond the Pepperdine bubble.

With Pepperdine’s many organizations, more than 50 percent of the students are actively involved with Greek life or various clubs, according to the aforementioned survey. Interestingly, about 65 percent of these students still indicated that they’ve felt moderately to very lonely during the past semester. That’s only 9 percent lower than that of the percentage of students who aren’t a part of any organization on campus.

One reason for this could be that the feeling of loneliness or emptiness relates more to the quality and intimacy of relationships and not to the quantity, according to Marcia Reynolds’s article “You Could be Lonely Even if You Have Friends,” published on Jan. 5, 2013 by Psychology Today.

Since Pepperdine students are heavily and simultaneously involved in many things,

Caroline Archer S ta f f W r i t e r

Ally Armstrong | Assistant Art Editor they could be missing out on building deeper, more meaningful relationships, which can consequently cause them to feel lonely.

To remedy that, students should invest fully in one or two clubs and develop more intimate friendships. By using their time and energy to do these things, they’ll be creating connections that are far richer and more fulfilling.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to take initiative — invite friends to coffee dates or a pick-up basketball game or rush Greek life — and focus on developing these relationships over time.

Employers are always looking to hire people who are proactive and willing to step outside of their comfort zone, according to Liz Ryan’s article “12 Qualities Employers Look

For When They’re Hiring,” published March 2, 2016, by Forbes. By practicing how to take initiative now, students can both be creating great relationships and preparing themselves well for the job market.

In the end, students can’t change the location of their school or the way other people behave. What they can do is to make the best out of their situation and look at things from a new perspective. Starting today, they can take initiative, invest and develop over time — they can take charge of their own social lives and futures. After all, it can never hurt to kill multiple birds with just a few stones.

AR EEYA.KUNAWAR ADISAI@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Join in Events for Inclusivity c am ry n g o r do n staf f wr it er

Diversity is the theory, and inclusion is putting that into action.

Home to approximately 3,000 undergraduate students on campuses stretching across four continents and six countries, Pepperdine University is an institution with a mission to expose students to a world of tradition, culture and ideas different from their own.

This mission, seeking to unite people from all over the world, begins in Malibu.

Inclusivity is the practice of breaking the barriers that separate people. At Pepperdine, inclusion begins and ends with the actions of a whole community embracing the diversity between peoples.

Hosting more than 100 clubs and organizations, which seek to celebrate the diversity of students on campus, Pepperdine makes an effort to prioritize and promote the inclusion of students outside the classroom. At Pepperdine University, the opportunities available

to get involved and cultivate inclusion are vital in preparing students to take on global leadership roles that will change the world.

Whether students are looking for a community that shares the same cultural background or lifestyle, there is something for everyone. These organizations provide all students with different interests the opportunity to be involved and represented on campus. May that be racial, ethnic, gender, religious, cultural, socio-economic, class or ability representation, Pepperdine will work to ensure its life and longevity.

Pepperdine’s commitment to diversity and inclusion thrives on the involvement of a motivated, understanding and faith-driven body.

With the involvement of the Intercultural Affairs office on campus, many events are held throughout the school year to bring these organizations to the forefront of Pepperdine student life. Determined to deepen students’ understanding of shared identities, provide perspective on other cultures and encourage community-cultivated dialogue, the Intercultural Affairs office is the backbone of Pepperdine’s mission for inclusivity.

Pepperdine Intercul-

Pay attention to Congress

Ally Armstrong | Assistant Art Editor tural Affairs helps organize events to support the many clubs and organizations on campus.

Whether that is participating in diverse cultural heritage dinners with the Korean Student Association, attending talks on intersectional identities, participating in the discussion on sexual assault with Take Back the Night or joining a historically Black fraternity or sorority, the opportunities are actually endless.

By hosting events around campus, Pepperdine is providing students and faculty the opportunity to learn more about a culture, identity or movement

that is unfamiliar. This opens up channels of dialogue between the community and works to cultivate an environment of inclusion and understanding from within.

Through the many clubs and organizations offered on campus, the opportunity to create inclusive environments is readily available. Pepperdine prioritizes the wants and needs of its community by providing students every possible option, including the one to create a club that is not yet represented.

It isn’t always easy to find a community within an undergraduate population, but

some of the pressures can be alleviated when students are made a priority. Pepperdine is committed to preparing students to take on the world with open minds and hearts. The opportunity to get involved on campus and to interact with many different cultural, ideological and religious groups, seeks to create a worldview ready for leadership.

Join a club, rush a Greek chapter, create a new organization, be present in the community at Pepperdine University and see the power of inclusion at work.

C AM RYN.GOR DON@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Nancy Pelosi swore in the most diverse Congress in United States’ history on Jan. 3. There is anticipation about how this new Congress will perform.

The demographics being represented are unprecedented, implying that a multitude of ideologies will be at work. The 116th Congress is worth paying attention to because of the range of perspectives that it represents.

Ideally, a representative government should mirror the population that it serves. This year’s Congress marks an important stride in that direction.

As a recent Graphic Staff Editorial denotes, there is some dissatisfaction concerning how well Pepperdine’s presidential candidates reflect Pepperdine’s diverse demographics. This is one reason that diverse leadership should matter to students.

Students can garner a lot of empowerment from the voices that constitute this Congress. For some communities, this Congress marks the first time that someone with similar experiences to them has governmental influence.

Regardless of the demographic that he or she falls into, any Pepperdine student has a significant opportunity to increase their cultural intelligence. By simply paying attention, students’ perspectives will likely be challenged and broadened.

Pepperdine has a high diversity ranking across the board, according to College Factual. Therefore, the Pepperdine student body benefits when government is home to “the voices of people of different ethnicities, genders, races, sexualities and religions that advocate for the constituencies that are commonly overlooked,” according to Madalyne Heiken’s article “Diversity in Congress: is it important?” published by DU Clarion on Jan. 14.

Many people are lauding this Congress as one that will end the stagnation that so often characterizes a bureaucracy.

There is well-founded hope that the new representatives will transform the United States into a more tolerant place,according to Kenneth Lowande, Melinda Ritchie and Erinn Lauterbach’s article “Having the most diverse Congress ever will affect more than just legislation,” published by The Washington Post on Jan. 9.

Diversity does not automatically ensure change; it still takes 218 votes for a legislation to pass through Congress. For this Congress’ potential to be realized, its members must be tempered by compromise itself can emulate.

C AR OL INE.AR C HER @PEPPER DINE.EDU

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Sherry Yang | Staff Photographer

Photos courtesy of Christian Lee and Filmmakers Diverse Directors | ReelStories film directors share their film’s posters (above) to advertise for the upcoming opening night Friday. Members of the Student Programming Board created this film festival to allow students to share their perspectives through filmmaking.

The Board hosts 10th Annual ReelStories

light to students who go to prestigious institutions like this (surrounded with wealth), yet, because of where they came from, school — at most times — is Filmmakers and goers alike are coming together to not the forefront of what they have to worry. Many celebrate the 10th anniversary of Pepperdine Universtudents here are fortunate enough to have their sity’s ReelStories Film Festival. stress focused on schooling while others don’t have Members from the Student Programming Board created ReelStories Film Festival to provide a space that leisure.” julia donlon a ssista n t e dit or

where other students could share their perspectives on the world through filmmaking. Now, Pepperdine students come together to enjoy a night of free food and drinks, special guests, a purple carpet, a glamorous ice sculpture and student-made short films.

Corbin Ford, a member of the Student Programming Board, came together with Marisa Dragos to co-direct the event this year.

“Students have worked so hard to create these films, and they aren’t getting paid,” Ford wrote in an email.

“They are solely motivated by their desire to tell their story and share their perspective on the world.”

This year, five films were chosen to be shown at the event including ‘Grey Girl,’ ‘Focus,’ ‘Walk,’ ‘People Watching’ and ‘Pale Water.’

“Grey Girl” is a film based on a poem by the same name that filmmaker Skye Lindsay wrote three years ago.

“Upon seeing the film and listening to the words, one might think that the story is just about dealing with being biracial, but it’s about more than that,” Lindsay wrote in an email. “It’s about the struggle many people go through while society attempts to pressure us into boxes and labels that are too definite for any human being to fit into. ‘Grey Girl’ is a call for the world to recognize that life isn’t one extreme or the next, it’s everything in between, too. It’s in the grey areas where there’s room to explore, be free and thrive.”

“

I know this may be cheesy, but I think the most memorable part of the evening is when all the students are gathered in either Elkins or Smothers. The lights are going down, the first film begins, and at that moment, the audience is brought into a story created by their fellow peers.

Corbin ford rsffx co-executive director

Ezieme’s second film “Walk” was also accepted into the festival and deals with “the struggles of being a graduating college senior and not knowing where exactly to take your life.” He was inspired to make this film because “this is something very real “Focus” explores the topic of a kid “who sells Adfor [him] right now as well as many of [his] other derall on campus in order to pay for some of his peers,” Ezieme wrote. schooling,” filmmaker Ifeanyi Ezieme wrote in an “People Watching” centers on “a guy who suffers email. “I made this film because I wanted to bring

from a condition that makes it difficult to process and understand emotions, and his Native American best friend whose sister went missing,” filmmaker Gabrielle Norte wrote in an email. “It highlights the heart-wrenching problem of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. It is a problem that is not being talked about and addressed enough because of the marginalized communities that we belong to … It is my goal to just give our people a voice and to tell our stories the way they need to be told.”

Last but not least, “Pale Water,” or “Don’t Forget Me When I Let the Water Take Me,” is a two-part music video that is “more of a collection of broken images than a traditional narrative, but that brokenness ended up being grounded in a breakup or three as well as the characters misinterpreting one another,” filmmaker Jacob Rawson wrote in an email.

“Two-thirds of this was filmed in the mountains in 95 degrees while I had the flu, and the film itself spent over 120 hours in post between seven songs.

I’d do it again.”

ReelStories is a night for everyone to come together and showcase student filmmakers to the greater Pepperdine community.

“I know this may be cheesy, but I think the most memorable part of the evening is when all the students are gathered in either Elkins or Smothers,” Ford wrote. “The lights are going down, the first film begins, and at that moment, the audience is brought into a story created by their fellow peers.”

ReelStories will take place on campus at the Mullin Town Square this Friday. Walk down the purple carpet and enjoy some appetizers and drinks beginning at 6 p.m. followed by the screening at 7:30. Don’t forget to stick around for the awards ceremony that will follow at 9 p.m.

JUL IA.DONL ON@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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Photos courtesy of ChloeéBoudames Hotheaded Magazine | Chloé Boudames reads her magazine on the beach. Her first issue included content from various creatives and influencers.

Finding balance in college with Chloe Boudames P ipe r Wright Li f e and art s assista n t Pepperdine Junior Class Student Body President Chloé Boudames is all too familiar with the challenge of finding balance in college. Boudames has become a master of time management as she has to juggle many extracurricular time commitments on top of her school work.

Boudames does production assistant and feature, or extra work, with Paramount on the weekends and breaks, started her own magazine called Hotheaded Magazine, is the junior president, does Instagram influencing and brand deals, is a full-time student, just joined Alpha Phi and works on Good Morning Malibu as an entertainment reporter.

Boudames said handling school work and life can be difficult, but “it’s all about time management.”

“You have to allocate your time, and there have been a lot of times where I haven’t been able to go out or go hang with friends,” Boudames said. “I have acting lessons five days a week for four hours. Every minute of my day is scheduled, so there have been so many times where I have to say, ‘Sorry I can’t make it.’ But I think it is more important right now to be working and grinding it out rather than go out. This is your time to get ahead. School comes first, then it’s those extracurriculars, and

friends are last when you have time.”

Boudames said she has always made a habit out of overloading her schedule.

“I’ve always been balancing a lot, so I’m used to allocating my time,” Boudames said. “But there are definitely times where it gets stressful, and I feel like I am doing way too much, and I get burned out, but there is a reward in the end.”

Boudames has advice for incoming students and fellow students alike who are having trouble with finding the balance.

“You need to know how much you can handle,” she said. “There have been times where I have put way too much on my plate and then you’re not doing too well in any of it because you have too much and you end up just doing mediocre in all of it.

So, I’d say just find your balance with how much you can handle, because once you find that, you can get it down to a rhythm.”

Boudames has a lot of experience juggling many roles with her various jobs, hobbies and extracurricular activities on top of her school work and shared her advice with anyone who might be struggling with the same thing.

“When you are passionate about what you do, it’s easy to balance extracurricular and school because instead of it being too much work, it’s just you having fun doing what you’re passionate about,” Boudames said.

P I P E R.W RI G H T @P E P P E RD I N E .

Beach Boarding | Chloé Boudames rides her skateboard in her free time. This photo was taken in Beverly Hills where Boudames often models.

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Photos Courtesy of Bradley Estes Dancing Divas | (From left to right) Sororities Kappa Alpha Theta and Alpha Phi dance on stage in the Waves Café as hundreds of Pepperdine students fill the crowd. This philanthropic event took place Friday, Jan. 25, and raised a total of $20,710 for Conquer Paralysis Now.

PUTYCD raises $20k for Conquer Paralysis Now channa steinmetz special edition editor Pepperdine fraternity Psi Upsilon transformed the Waves Café into a dance arena for their annual philanthropy, Psi U Think You Can Dance (PUTYCD), with the goal to raise funds and awareness for Conquer Paralysis Now (CPN).

Greek groups and nonGreek groups took the stage Friday, Jan. 25, to perform and compete in PUTYCD. All earnings from the night go to CPN, a foundation that Psi Upsilon philanthropy chair Matthew Grindle said is important to the chapter.

“Conquer Paralysis Now was started by Sam Schmidt — who was also one of the founders of the Lambda Sigma Chapter of Psi U at Pepperdine,” Grindle said. “It’s very meaningful for us to be able to put on this event in honor of an alumnus.”

Sam Schmidt started the foundation in 2000 from a hospital bed after a race car accident left him a quadriplegic, his daughter, senior Savannah Schmidt, said.

CPN started as the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation, but the foundation’s ultimate goal has stayed the same: finding a cure.

“The foundation just opened a rehab facility

in Vegas,” Savannah said.

“Its primary focus is to be a gym for disabled people, providing them with the equipment and trainers to stay able-bodied so that when a cure comes, they are in a place where they can recover.”

Fraternities and sororities competed against one another in both the dance competition and the overall philanthropy. Delta Gamma took first place in the sorority dance competition, and Alpha Tau Omega won in the fraternity dance category.

Greek groups obtain points from the dance competition attendance at events, coin jars and apparel. The group with the highest total of points is the winner. Overall, sorority Kappa Alpha Theta and fraternity Alpha Tau Omega won the philanthropy. Junior Carissa Coronado in Kappa Alpha Theta said PUTYCD is more than a dance competition.

“It’s raising money for a cause that is truly inspirational,” Coronado said.

“I love to dance, so the fact that I’m able to use that passion and raise awareness and money for research and resources for paralysis makes it all worth it.”

Non-Greek groups such as Dance in Flight and the Pepperdine Step

Team also performed exhibition routines at the philanthropy.

Grindle said he sees the event as an opportunity to bring different groups within the university together.

“It brings students together through dance,” Grindle said. “Whether someone’s affiliated, alumni or just loves dance, it’s a fun and unique event for the campus community.”

This year, there were over 500 tickets sold and a total gross raised of $20,710, Grindle said.

“Unreal,” was how Savannah explained her fourth and final year of dancing with her sorority, Phi Beta Phi. With her younger brother, Spencer Schmidt, also dancing and her parents in the audience, Savannah said it was one of the best nights of her life.

“I’m not a dancer,” Savannah laughed. “But participating was never something that I questioned because it’s not about me. It’s really cool to be able to get on stage and not only dance for my dad, but also the large community of disabled people that I know would give anything to be up there with me.”

Flipping Fantastic | (From left to right) Seniors Sabrina Parker and Reagan Zimmerer aerial on stage. Delta Gamma won the sorority dance competition.

CHANNA.STEINMETZ@PEPPERDINE.EDU

Say Cheese | The members of Psi Upsilon fraternity pose on stage. Their philanthropy week ended Friday night after PUTYCD.

Power Pose | Several members of Alpha Tao Omega fraternity perform on stage. ATO won the overall competition out of the fraternities.

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P E P P E R DIN E GR A P H IC M E DIA | S PORTS | J A N U A RY 3 1 , 20 1 9

Women’s Tennis: the new international aces

Photo Courtesy of Sarah Otteman/Pepperdine Athletics

Ground Stroke | Freshman Satsuki Takamura follows through on her backhand. Takamura defeated an opponent from the University of Denver in her most recent match. The next time she and the Waves play at home is Feb. 15 against Arizona State. s a w a ya m a k a w a s ta f f w r i t e r The Waves Women’s Tennis team, ranked No. 7 in the nation, added three freshmen to their roster this year: Anastasia Iamachkine, Daria Kuczer and Satsuki Takamura are the newest additions to the team, coming to Malibu from Peru, Poland and Japan respectively.

Both Iamachkine and Takamura said they had no hesitation committing to Pepperdine. Since Iamachkine’s brother, a class of 2018 graduate Pedro Iamachkine, was on the Men’s Tennis team, she said she knew Pepperdine had a world-class tennis program.

“I knew the coaches before and they were so nice,” Iamachkine said.

Takamura, on the other hand, said she received several offers from schools nationwide, including the University of Florida. Takamura said she made her decision, just like Iamachkine, based on the program’s prestige.

“The stunning ocean view was also a deciding factor,” Takamura said.

Iamachkine joined the team in fall 2018,

while Takamura became a Wave five months later. Although the two had no prior interactions, Takamura and Iamachkine said they became friends instantly, perhaps due to their similar international backgrounds and experiences.

Iamachkine came from Peru, but her parents are both Russians. She is able to converse in three different languages — Spanish, Russian and English. Similarly, Takamura spent the past six years training in Serbia, and is able to speak the language.

Takamura says her teammates helped her to feel more welcome. She said not only did Iamachkine provide advice on court, she also assisted Takamura adapt to her new environment.

“We see each other every single day. We are a team, and we are a family,” Iamachkine said.

Although tennis is a priority for both, they both said they consider academics as equally important. For high school, they both attended online-based high schools to focus on training. The change in the lifestyle and environment however, does not stop the duo

from successfully balancing between the two.

Despite finding some classes challenging, the bilingual Takamura said she enjoys her classes and considers them a perfect opportunity to practice her third language, English. Iamachkine, who has prior experiences in business, said she wishes to develop and expand her entrepreneurship through classes.

“I always try to find time to do homework and it’s hard but playing tennis actually motivates me to study harder,” Takamura said.

The two talented athletes said they have the same goals for their NCAA and post collegiate career.

“I want to win the NCAA championships with my team and individually,” said Iamachkine, who was ranked No. 77 in the world as a junior.

“As a team, we want to be ranked No. 1 in the country. We are No. 7 right now but we can make it!”

Both players are determined to turn pro as Takamura is glad that she and her teammates have the same goal of competing as professionals in the future, and believes that training alongside such

motivated athletes would push her to work hard on a daily basis.

“After graduating, I want to go pro and represent Japan,” Takamura said.

Having qualified for 2019 ITA Division 1 National Women’s Team Indoor Championships, which will be held on Feb. 8 through 11 at the University of Washington, Iamachkine and Takamura emphasized the importance of support from the Pepperdine community.

They both expressed a desire for more people to “come to our matches and support.”

Kuczer, a two time European junior bronze medalist and three time Polish age group champion, according to her online Pepperdine athletics profile, could not be reached for an interview.

The Women’s Tennis team plays against the University of California, Berkeley on the home court, Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, Saturday. This will be their last match before flying out to Seattle for National Indoor Championships.

S A WA .YA MA KA WA @P EPPERDINE.EDU

Photo Courtesy of Ron Hall/Pepperdine Athletics

New Waves | (From left) Freshmen Daria Kuczer, Satsuki Takamura and Anastasia Iamachkine pose at Alumni Park on Media Day.

Photos Courtesy of Sarah Otteman/Pepperdine Athletics

Game, Set, Match! | (Left) Iamachkine hits a volley while playing doubles with Jessica Failla. (Right) Iamachkine anticipates a backhand.

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Garapedian, Schaechterle lead new regime for men’s tennis Aust in Hall The landscape of Pepperdine Men’s Tennis has changed dramatically from last season to this one. In April, the Waves parted ways with Marcelo Ferriera midway through his fifth season as head coach. The current roster doesn’t have 11-12 players like it had the past three seasons. Instead, the roster contains a modest 8.

As the team makes its way through the regular season, senior Scotland Garapedian and first-year Pepperdine Head Coach Adam Schaechterle spoke about the progress the program has made.

Garapedian headlined the Pepperdine squad last year, taking home two singles victories and going 5-7 in doubles. Two of those victories were in competitive West Coast Conference play. Overall, it was a difficult season for Pepperdine Men’s Tennis as they finished 7-16 and needed to fill the vacancy at head coach.

With one final year of eligibility remaining, Garapedian felt something needed to change.

“Last year was a tough year both on and off the court,” Garapedian said.

“We lost a lot of good players mainly to the fact that the culture of the program was heading in the wrong direction. Players did not want to play for a program that didn’t have the leadership it truly needed to make that culture become great.”

Culture was the focal

point for the future of the program when Adam Schaechterle was hired in May. One of the first things he said he had to do was address the players that were not going to continue to play tennis at Pepperdine.

“There were five players who did not graduate who are no longer on the team,” Schaechterle said. “And that’s a huge number. I think that was reflective of where the culture was at. Some guys just didn’t want to be a part of it.”

When it was official that the roster would have 8 players for the 20182019 season, Schaechterle and assistant coach Tassilo Schmid focused on becoming close with the players before preparing for the season.

“We really wanted to show them how much we cared about them,” Schaechterle said. “The first month was just getting to know them and what their hopes and dreams were. We had a team-building trip in Palm Springs. It had nothing to do with tennis but it did so much for the bonding of the team.”

Garapedian quickly realized how different Schaechterle and Schmid were from previous seasons’ coaches.

“With our new coaching staff this year, it has been a complete 180,” Garapedian said. “Our coaches are motivated to put this program back on track and to establish a culture that is strong.”

The team has played

Courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics

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and Sheridan Davis

Photo courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics/Ricky Davis Swinging Senior | Senior captain Scotland Garapedian prepares to hit a forehand across the court.

Catch Garapedian and the Waves Friday Feb. 8 at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center as they take on UNLV. two matches in the regular season thus far, falling to Fresno State University by a score of 1-6 and Abilene Christian 2-4.

Transitions of this capacity can take time but Schaechterle is confident in what his team has to offer.

“Our theme for spring semester is to be faithful,” Schaechterle said.

“We’re excited to put in discipline work day after day and be faithful to the standard we’ve talked about all fall. Now the guys get that so let’s hit it every day.”

Schaechterle also has I got here, he caught the about the time he has high praise for Garape- vision that we were going left and what he plans to dian, his lone senior and to instill a new culture,” walk away from when the team captain.

Schaechterle said. “That season comes to a close.

“Scotty [Garapedian] is was something he cared “I do not want to just above reproach when it deeply about. He want- fly by my last semester,” comes to how he handles ed that to be his legacy. Garapedian said. “I want his day-to-day work,” We’ve seen him 100 per- to make the most of it. As Schaechterle said. “What cent buy into that vision of now, the external goal we’ve asked of him this and live it every day.” is to win the WCC and year is to not just be a guy As the senior captain go as far as we can in the who works hard but grow of the team, his goal is to NCAA tournament. Interhis confidence and he has set the standard high on nally, we are just looking responded to that.” and off the court. to get better each day and He added that Gara“Each day I want to el- make consistent progpedian isn’t just helping evate my game, as well as ress.” this year’s team but es- to help elevate my teamOn Saturday, Peppertablishing a standard for mates each day,” Garape- dine will play at Arizona years to come. dian said.

State University at 1 p.m.

Courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics and Calvin Wood AUSTIN.HAL L @PEPPER DINE.EDU “From the first week Garapedian spoke

Photos courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics/Martin A. Folb Driving to the Hoop | Colbey Ross (left) and Kameron Edwards (right) survey the court as they dribble around Saint Mary’s defenders at Firestone Fieldhouse on Jan. 26.

Men’s Basketball defends home court ky le M c c a be a ssi stant s por ts e d itor

Pepperdine Men’s Basketball pulled out a win in overtime against the Saint Mary’s Gaels Saturday night in Firestone Fieldhouse. The Waves improved to 3-4 in conference play while the Gaels dropped to 4-3.

Saturday was only Pepperdine’s second overtime game of the season and their first overtime win. The Waves scored 18 points in the extra frame with 11 coming from sophomore Colbey Ross.

The teams played a close game throughout the first half. The largest lead for either team was Saint Mary’s six point lead with 3:08 remaining. Pepperdine came back

with a 7-0 run to end the half and take the lead into the locker room, 32-31.

“We’ve been in that same position a lot, where we’ve been up at halftime and ended up blowing the game,” redshirt junior Kameron Edwards said. “So being up at halftime, we knew it was another one of those situations where we could either take advantage of it in the second half or come out in the second half lethargic. It was kind of a skeptical feeling, but we came out nice with it.”

The second half remained close until Pepperdine went on a 10-3 run in the middle of the half to take a nine point lead, 59-50. Edwards said the difference during the run was the Waves’ defense.

“That’s kind of like in the other games, where we would struggle and where the other team would gain momentum was on the defensive end,” Edwards said. “We were definitely locked in in the middle of the second half and that made a big difference.”

The Gaels came back and took the lead 67-66 with 2:26 left in the half. Ross made three free throws and Saint Mary’s junior Jordan Ford made a two point field goal before the end of regulation to tie the game at 69.

Ross continued his late game excellence in the overtime period, going three for three from the field and four for four from the free throw line. “[Ross] was huge,” Edwards

said. “It was expected. He always comes out huge in clutch situations, but he just came out huge tonight and had a great one for us. We needed that.”

The Gaels presented a challenge for the Waves.

“They’re very good year in and year out,” Head Coach Lorenzo Romar said. “They’re a really tough opponent, and it’s good that we can get not just a win, but a quality win against someone that’s one of the best programs in our conference.”

Pepperdine shut down the Gaels’ top scorer, Ford, limiting him to 17 points.

“I thought defensively, we did a good job,” Romar said.

“Jadé Smith, to me, is one of the better defensive guards in the country. I thought our

team was focused on their big time players. Jordan Ford is the leading scorer in this conference, but I thought we did a good job of guarding him.”

Pepperdine students filled Firestone Fieldhouse more than usual Saturday, and Romar thought it made a difference.

“There’s no doubt,” Romar said. “There’s no doubt our team played better as a result of who was here in attendance.

I just wish we could have a turnout like that or better every game, because our guys compete, our guys play hard.”

The Waves return to Firestone Fieldhouse on Feb. 7 to face Santa Clara and take on the University of San Diego on Feb. 9.

K YL E.J.M C C ABE@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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SPORTS

Photo courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics/Kyle Terada

Photos courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics/Jeff Golden Pitch Perfect | (Top left) Senior Jonathan Pendergast stares down a hitter. (Top right) Redshirt junior Christian Stoutland delivers a pitch. (Bottom) Senior Cory Wills prepares for a pitch as his teammates look on from the dugout.

Baseball Team eyes NCAA appearance in 2019 kar l w int e r a ss i s tant spor ts e d itor

After a disappointing injury-plagued 2017 campaign, the Pepperdine Baseball team rebounded to capture the West Coast Conference regular season title in 2018 before falling a game short of winning the conference tournament.

The Waves hope to ride the same balance and depth from 2018 to finish the job and make a deep postseason run in 2019.

“Goals for this year are big,” senior outfielder Cory Wills said. “Omaha is the goal and that’s what we’re striving for.”

Pepperdine baseball has not reached Omaha, Nebraska, the site of the College World Series since 1992, when the Waves won the only national championship in program history. The proud program last reached an NCAA Regional tournament in 2015 and an NCAA Super Regional in 2014.

“The ultimate goal is always to get to Omaha,” fourth-year Head Coach Rick Hirtensteiner said. “In order to do that, you have to get to a regional, which means winning the conference tournament.”

Hirtensteiner noted the balance of the 2018 team, which

finished with a 17-10 record in WCC play and reached the championship game of the WCC tournament, which ended in a 17-2 loss to Gonzaga.

“We didn’t have many weaknesses,” Hirtensteiner, the 2018 WCC Coach of the Year, said. “We were able to continue to put pressure on the opposing team, and I think that’s one of the things we’ll be able to do this year.”

Although WCC Player of the Year Jordan Qsar and shortstop Chase Lambert were both selected in the Major League Baseball Draft in June and signed professional contracts, the Waves return with most of their key players from 2018.

The top seven pitchers on the roster, in terms of innings pitched, and the top four hitters, in terms of batting average, are all back for 2019.

“We got a lot of experience and a lot of young kids that we know are going to step up,” Wills said.

Wills hit .291 with five home runs in 2018, and he will be joined in the outfield by fellow senior Matt Kanfer, who led the team in batting average during WCC play (.333) and hits (70).

Kanfer also crushed a walk-off home run against Loyola Ma-

rymount in the WCC semifinal game.

“Matt Kanfer hit third for us last year,” Hirtensteiner said.”

In addition to being a very good player, he’s a great team leader and I can’t remember how many huge clutch hits he came up with last year.”

The other two seniors besides Kanfer and Wills are the Waves top two returning starting pitchers, Jonathan Pendergast and Christian Stoutland.

Pendergast was named WCC Pitcher of the Year in 2018, as he posted a 2.69 earned run average in 87 innings. “[My teammates] had my back the whole year,” Pendergast said. “Without them, there would have been no way I could’ve done that.”

The experienced pitching staff has four legitimate returning starters and several returning bullpen arms, Hirtensteiner said. The roster features a deep mix of 15 upperclassmen and 24 underclassmen.

“We’re just really excited to get out there and show everybody what we have in store because we’re really confident in our team right now,” Pendergast said.

Many Waves participated in collegiate summer baseball

leagues around the nation in powerhouse program Cal State 2018 for offseason develop- Fullerton, in addition to the sement, and then the team used ries against Vanderbilt, who is its goals for 2019 as motivation currently ranked No. 1 in the throughout the long fall train- nation. ing season, Pendergast said.

“We’re actually really excitNow, the team is two weeks ed because we’re playing a lot away from its season-opening of good teams away, which is tournament and preparing for going to help our ranking if we a tough schedule. go out there and beat some Photos Courtesy can of Pepperdine Athletics “It seems like you always of those good teams,” Penderhave a long time ’til the season, gast said. and then, next thing you know, Competing against top nait’s on you,” said Hirtensteiner, tional programs will boost the who has been with Pepperdine Waves’ rating percentage index for a total of 24 years between (RPI) and provide a favorable his playing and coaching days. road in the postseason, but Hirtensteiner’s team opens they must reach and win the the season with eight road conference tournament May games, including a tournament 23-25 first. at Arizona State University (be“We fell a little bit short of ginning Feb. 15) and a three- our goal last year,” Pendergast game series against perenni- said. “We won conference, al powerhouse Vanderbilt in which was awesome, but we Nashville, Tennessee. want to keep pushing forward “Again, the goal is to get to and keep building on that.”

Omaha and win, and in order The Waves home opener is to do that, we need to be able March 2 against UC Santa Barto play against the teams that bara at Eddy D. Field Stadium, we expect to be there,” Hirten- and WCC play opens March 15 steiner said. “We’ll get a pretty with a series at San Diego. good test early.”

“Come support Pepperdine The Waves non-confer- baseball,” Wills said. “We love ence schedule includes games having you guys . . . it fires us against Stanford, who is ranked up.”

No. 7 in the country in BaseballAmerica.com’s preseason rankings, UCLA (No. 3), and K AR L .W INTER @PEPPER DINE.EDU