Huntsinger Academic Complex

letter from the PGM Executive Editor

One thing about college is people love to talk about it. When somebody finds out you’re in college, they will probably want to tell you about their experience and will frequently use cliché sayings. “These will be the best four years of your life” and “College will be over in the blink of an eye.” Some will say they met their best friends in college, and others will say the college experience was life-changing.

Sayings like these exist on Pepperdine’s campus, too. A less cheerful saying I have heard is that the Class of 2022 received the worst of Pepperdine’s luck. People say we never got a “normal” semester. While normal is hard — and possibly futile — to define, it is true we experienced di cult times during our undergraduate education at Pepperdine.

In November 2018, the Borderline Shooting in Thousand Oaks, Calif., caused the Pepperdine Class of 2022 to lose Alaina Housley, one of our own.

The next day, the Woolsey Fire threated the place we had just started calling home.

In March of 2020, many of us were sent home from studying abroad, and others were sent home from the Malibu campus.

Then, in November 2021, the Class of 2022 lost another one of our own with the death of Dev “Dave” Singh.

Even though these times were immensely di cult, there were also many joy-filled times.

We experienced our first year at Pepperdine in person, with an in-person NSO.

Many of us got to experience some time studying abroad, even if it was not as much time as we expected. Most of all, we had the gift of experiencing our senior year and graduation with each other after 15 months of virtual instruction.

The important thing about all of these moments is that we, Pepperdine’s Class of 2022, experienced them together.

So, I would like to edit the previously mentioned saying about the Class of 2022.

Instead, I would like to say that we are strong. We are passionate. We are supportive. We are closer than ever before.

More than that, however: We are graduating.

After spending the past four years at Pepperdine completing our undergraduate degrees while living through such a mixture of experiences, it is time to celebrate.

We have accomplished amazing things during these experiences and we will continue to do so.

We have students going to graduate school and others beginning their careers. We have other students traveling and still others improving the world through community service.

Even though graduation can be intimidating, we must remember everything we have experienced and all we have accomplished. Pepperdine has prepared us for what is next, and no matter what life throws at us, we will always be Waves.

Congratulations, Class of 2022.

Rowan Toke (’22) Executive Editor