The survival guide to convocation: Students share tips on getting through convo requirement

Students praying during a Monday night club convo on April 9 (Photo by Katie Nance).

Exciting, enjoyable, easy going.

These aren’t the typical words students use to describe Pepperdine’s mandatory convocation.

Believe it or not, there are ways for every student to heighten their enjoyment of convocation. Students shared their tips and tricks on how they manage to survive convocation – and enjoy it.

“Not going to lie I used to hate it,” freshman business major Sonia Krikorian said, “ but nearing the end of the semester I’ve figured out how to make it doable for me.”

A Pepp Post poll of 50 students found that nearly 38 percent didn’t enjoy convocation and 18 percent only sometimes enjoyed convocation.

Half of those surveyed said mandatory convocation made them feel uncomfortable at times.

“To put it bluntly, no, I don’t like it,” said Skye Eason, a sophomore biology and psychology major. “It’s is boring and awkward for me at times to listen to some sermons.”

Both convo organizers and students who have successfully changed their perspectives on convocation to be more positive offered dos and don’ts to help students better enjoy what convocation has to offer.

DON’T be stubborn about it. Pepperdine University is a faith-based private school.This is affirmed in the university’s mission statement and Matthew 10 motto.

“My hope is that every student who comes into this university knows that part of the intent of this place is engaging in faith-based conversation and teachings, but not forcing you to accept these teachings,”  Peterson said.

Sitting with a closed-mind can only limit your experiences here at Pepperdine and will prevent you from making lifelong discoveries that convocation has led many students to, Peterson said.

Part of being in a liberal arts university is gaining an appreciation for new perspectives,” Convocation Project Coordinator Christopher Shea said.

DO reach out to the chaplain. For help on your journey to enjoying convocation. For conversation. For fun. For anything.

I would also recommend that those students that are uncomfortable attending convocation events to come speak with me,” Shea said. “I would be more than happy to help them find events that they may find intriguing or of personal interest.”

Establishing a relationship with those in charge will allow you to better connect with each convo they work to present.

“Our president, Andrew K. Benton, tells students who do approach him on the topic of mandatory convocation to ‘bring me a better idea, and then we’ll discuss,’ ” Peterson said.

Peterson said the Chaplain’s Office is willing to take requests from students on ways to make convocation more inviting.

Pepperdine University’s Office of the Chaplain is located in the Tyler Campus Center room 106.

DON’T procrastinate and wait to complete your 14 convocation credits until the last month of school.

“I currently have three convocation credits,” sophomore business major Hope Gilderman said. “I wish I didn’t wait so long to start going.”

Gilderman isn’t alone. Nearly 50 percent of students said they are currently behind in their credits, and 10 percent said they failed to complete past semesters with the required amount of credits. If you don’t like the idea of attending convocation to begin with, you won’t like suffering through them at the end, said Kerry Anna Lemaster, a junior integrated marketing communication major and spiritual life advisor for Krown Alpha dorms.

DO plan in advance for what convocations you’re going to attend. This will relieve the stress of last-minute ‘convo-cramming’ and will enable you to attend a variety of convocations. The power of when to go and what to go to will be in your hands by thinking ahead.

“I think the best way to do it is just to get them over with in the beginning,”  Lemaster said, “because saving them until the end of the semester always gets super stressful.

Get a calendar, or even an already in-use school planner, and mark down a session to attend once a week. Doing this at the beginning of the school year will put you one step ahead and leave you with less unwanted stress when finals week rolls around. It’ll also allow you to plan convocation-goings with friends. Good company will make a convo that much easier to sit through, Lemaster said.

Speaker Steven T. Moore, an award-winning English teacher and author of “The Cry of Black Rage in African American Literature: From Frederick Douglass to Richard Wright, discussed “Invitation to live” at Wednesday morning convocation March 15  in the Firestone Fieldhouse. Convocation has run an invitation theme all school year (Photo by Katie Nance).

DON’T go to convos you can’t relate to. Although Wednesday morning chapel may be easy to fit into your schedule, don’t make that your only reason for going.

Convo discussion topics are posted online weekly. If a topic posted doesn’t peak your interest, then save yourself the misery and don’t attend it.

“Not every sermon is meant to speak to everybody,”  Christian Battin, freshman media productions major, said.

DO look for convos that appeal to you and are personally relatable. There are many different topics to suit the fancies of a variety of students.

“If I do go to Wednesday convo, I choose the sermons I am really interested in so that I’m not sitting there bored the whole time,” Lemaster said.

Other students use the time in convo to get some homework and studying done.

“I never really got into Wednesday evening convocation, until I realized I can use this time to do my homework for my class that starts right after,” Eason said. “Let’s just say I go every week now.”

About 30 percent of students surveyed were international students. Pepperdine offers convocations that cater to the culture and language of these students to allow them the best possible experience they can get, Peterson said.

“There are inter-faith convocations that we provide,” Peterson said. “Sometimes it’s held by the Muslim Student Association, sometimes it’s held by a Jewish Club Convocation group.”

Some 30 percent of students surveyed said they were not religious or were unsure of their faith. Pepperdine caters to these students as well, by the many ways they can gain credits.

Students listening to a sermon at surf chapel April 5 (Photo by Katie Nance).

For example, surf-chapel, club-convo and professor-student mentee meetings are some of the more laid-back forms of convocation that even the non-religious students enjoy attending.

“I go to surf chapel when I’m looking for something fun, and I go to Wednesday chapel when I’m looking to be more spiritually engaged,” freshman business major MaryKathryn Dick said. “There’s a convocation for everyone, you just have to try it.”

Katie Nance completed this story under the supervision of Dr. Christina Littlefield in Jour 241 in spring 2017.