Making memories, participating in engaging events and fostering community.
The first couple weeks of school are a difficult time for many first-year students at Pepperdine University, but students said engaging events like Frosh Follies and the House Cup make the whole first semester worth it. House Cup is a series of exciting events for first-year students that encourages relationship building and friendly competition.
“I have attended the House Cup events,” first-year psychology major Lilly Moore said. “They have helped me overcome a fear of just being uncomfortable and not knowing people.”
House Cup events allow students to make connections with one another while making Pepperdine into their new home. The dorm that wins the most House Cup points wins a trip to Disneyland for the entire residential house.
Students acclimate to college
Between feeling homesick, balancing work and play schedules, and prioritizing mental health, first-year residents find themselves overwhelmed while settling into college, Resident Director Deandra Williams said.
A key measure of success for universities is the first-year retention rate, that is how many students decide to return for the next academic year. Nationally, 76.5% of students who started college in 2022 returned for Fall 2023, according to an National Student Clearinghouse blog.
Pepperdine’s first-year retention rate of 88% outperforms that national average and is on par with similar private Christian liberal arts colleges, according to data from the Office for Institutional Effectiveness.
Pepperdine’s retention rates have declined slightly in recent years. The university retained 90% of first-years for years but took a major hit during COVID-19.
A Pepp Post poll of 50 first-year students in 2022 found that 70% of students were adjusting well to college, while the other 30% indicated they were struggling with one or more aspects, Nancy He wrote in a Pepp Post article. First-year students also reported that 80% of them were able to make friends and had joined clubs or other co-curricular events on campus.
Andrew Tadros, a first-year sports medicine major, said that he feels welcome and accepted here. Tadros attends The Well every week and said it’s a great environment to meet people with the same values.
Moore said the switch to college life has been difficult for her. She still feels the stress of being in a new place and misses her home. She said the events she has gone to have helped her.
“These events have helped me just get out of my comfort zone,” Moore said.
Chelsea Ferary, a first-year political science major, said her transition into college life has gone very smoothly. Being a part of the school’s debate team and the Pre-Law Fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta, has helped her feel at home.
“Everything has been really smooth and I just thank God for that,” Ferary said. “Everyone has just been so friendly here it just feels like I really belong here.”
Pepperdine uses its New Student Orientation week and ongoing House Cup events to help first-year students feel connected.
New Student Orientation or ‘NSO’ is the week before classes start that introduces first-year students to Pepperdine. There are a multitude of events for residents to participate in in order to get acquainted with their new campus and classmates.
“The party at Mullen square, they had lots of events like Connect Four, cup stacking, throw a ball into a round ring, that one [event] stuck with me a lot,” Tadros said.
Many first-year students reported that NSO was an integral part of their college transition.
“There was this game literally where you had to put the balls in like this thing and try and make it like a pyramid and make it stay,” Ferary said. “You got like House Points if you actually did it. You have to have a certain strategy.”
NSO includes Frosh Follies, the first House Cup event of the year. The event puts residential houses together in groups to perform a mini-musical.
“I definitely think it helped strengthen new friendships especially at like Frosh Follies,” Ferary said. “That’s where I met someone who literally lives in my suite that I didn’t even know until like Frosh Follies brought us together.”
Many students who participated in NSO events developed strong friendships.
“It [the events] definitely did help with school spirit, especially Frosh Follies,” Tadros said. “We were all getting hype and cheering for our teams and you don’t like normally see that with people you don’t know.”
Attending House Cup events
Pepperdine’s House Cup events create a transformative space for first-year residents.
“House Cup events are really fun events to encourage the freshmen to just get involved in their community,” said Delaney Dickey, a junior international studies major and Spiritual Life Advisor for Crocker House.
There are two main types of House Cup events, Williams said, dorm events and campus department events. Departments on the Pepperdine campus offer House Points for attendance. Pepperdine’s RISE hosted Adulting Bingo, where students could win prizes, and Pepperdine Board hosted BUYO with Board, where they got frozen yogurt.
“There will never not be a day when something isn’t going on or where you can’t get plugged in,” Williams said.
Scavenger Hunts and Stick Or Treat take place in October. The first week of December introduces Deck the Halls; a competition where each residential house decorates their hallways to show off their holiday spirit.
“House Cup is a really fun way to incentivize them going and getting the House Cup points,” Dickey said. “They can kind of work together toward a purpose as a house together.”
Resident directors are constantly creating events to encourage students to view Pepperdine as their home away from home.
“Some events really draw a large crowd,” Williams said. “And then some events depending on date, time and people’s schedule have a lesser attendance.”
The House Cup GroupMe provides students with extra opportunities to collect House Points. The texting chain encourages students to participate, Williams said.
Residents create school spirit
Opportunities for first-year students help them develop Pepperdine pride. Beyond NSO and House Cup, events like Wave Weekend’s Blue and Orange Madness help students gain a sense of school spirit.
“During the Blue and Orange madness weekend, I would say I saw an increase in school spirit,” Moore said. “At the basketball game people were hype, people were dancing on the floor, like that was fun.”
Sporting Pepperdine’s blue and orange is a big way that students showcase pride.
“Wearing a lot of school colors,” Ferary said. “I wear my Pepperdine orange hoodie anytime I’m going to one of the rallies.”
Many of the events that take place over the course of the first semester not only help first-year students establish relationships, but strengthen them.
“I wouldn’t say the events have really helped me make new friends,” Tadros said. “But it helped me strengthen my relationship with my friends because we built memories going to those events.”
The events on campus give students a chance to engage in friendly competition. Sometimes students become discouraged, Williams said. They don’t want to participate in events if they know their house isn’t winning and won’t be going to Disneyland.
“We wanna keep it light, we wanna keep it fun, we don’t want the residents to feel like ‘Oh we have to beat this team and what not,’” Williams said.
Resident and spiritual life advisors
Resident and spiritual life advisors are an integral part of the acclimation process for first-year students.
“RAs and SLAs have such a huge role,” Williams said.
Advisors live in student housing, therefore they have a significant part in getting to know the students they are residing with.
“They want the freshmen to feel like they can make this place home,” Williams said. “They want to set the foundation of ‘I want to get to know you.’”
Advisors have an important job that entails deep conversations with students including encouraging and praying with them. The RAs also take students to events and become an essential person in their life to go with them to places. “I would say my SLA has helped a lot because she’s in my suite,” Moore said. “She’s the room right next to me.”Pepperdine students form essential relationships with their advisors over the first few months. Ferary said that she loves her White house advisors, Ella Rollins, Cynea Casidsid, and Emily Lickiss. “They honestly are always around and hanging out with us,” Ferary said. “Talking to us about our classes, our daily lives, and basically they are just really good resources to us when we need help or help locating stuff.”
Sydnie Nuss reported this enterprise story in Jour 241 during the Fall 2024 semester under the supervision of Dr. Christina Littlefield and Dr. Theresa de los Santos. Dr. Littlefield supervised the web article.
