RISE Roundtable

Daniela Lopez and Samantha Rosser, RISE Marketing Student Employees, take a seat at the RISE Roundtable and reflect on a challenge they took upon themselves over the summer dedicated to enhancing their resilience skills: The RISE Up Challenge. This 75-day challenge encouraged students to set 6 goals for themselves based on the dimensions of resilience: social, physical, cognitive, life skills, ser...

Myers Mentzer, Seaver College Class of 2025 student and Student Government Association President, joined RISE Podcast Producer Owen Mirka at the RISE Roundtable.  Myers shares her resilience journey as a student leader. We also hear from three Pepperdine community members, who each share a person in their life whom they look up to as a leader who exhibits profound resilience. Connect with us: Emai...

Dr. Terra  Hall , Associate Dean of Student Affairs at Pepperdine, joined RISE Podcast Producer Bo Jaden James at the RISE Roundtable. Dr. Hall shares her inspiring faith-driven journey of resilience and her work in cultivating community for all students. We also hear from three Pepperdine community members, who each how they have found a sense of belonging at Pepperdine to enhance their social an...

Pepperdine alumni Kenneth Vargas, RISE Podcast Producer, and Emily Shaw, RISE Program Specialist, sit around the RISE Roundtable to reflect on their resilience journeys at Pepperdine and post-grade and share some tips and insights they learned along the way. We also hear from three more Pepperdine alumni, who each share what has supported their resilience throughout their college career and postgr...

Nicole Fashaw, rising senior, joins RISE Podcast Producer Bo Jaden James at the RISE Roundtable. The two discuss the power of music and songwriting to strengthen one's resilience, and Nicole does a special performance of an original song. We also hear from three Pepperdine community members, who each share a song that reminds them about resilience: Seaver alumni (Class of 2024) Alyssa Medina, Lidi...

Dr. Jaz Gray, Professor of Communication Studies, joins RISE Program Specialist Emily Shaw at the RISE Roundtable. The two discuss the power of narrative storytelling in strengthening one's resilience. We also hear from three Pepperdine community members, who each share a story that has impacted their perspective on resilience: Hope Dease, Assistant Director of Connection; Young Yang, Seaver stude...

In this episode, Isaac Bonilla, a rising senior, joins RISE Student Lead Ethan Barragán at the RISE Roundtable, sharing his resilience journey to Pepperdine and how he practices resilience skills to support all of his various academic and co-curricular commitments.  We also hear from three Pepperdine undergraduate students, who each share risks they've taken and the outcome of those decisions: Jul...

In this episode,  Paul   Kim , Professor of Screen Arts, joins RISE Podcast Producer Kenneth Vargas at the RISE Roundtable.  Paul shares his resilience journey as a member of his family, professor, and filmmaker. We also hear from three Pepperdine faculty, who each share how they find a sense of deep enjoyment in life: Martin Premoli, Assistant Professor English; Dr. Karie Riddle, Assistant Profes...

Esther Chung, Manager of Alumni Engagement for Seaver Alumni Relations, joins RISE Program Specialist Emily Shaw at the RISE Roundtable. Esther discusses how she's navigated being there for someone she loves, while also learning more about herself and her relationship with God in the process. We also hear from three Pepperdine staff, who each share how they have leaned on their faith to help them...

On this episode, we sat down with Pepperdine First Lady Joline Gash, first-years Jalen Brooks and Jillian George, and RISE Director Stacey Lee Gobir at the RISE Roundtable. What unites them is that they are all first-generation college students/graduates, being the first in their families to attend and complete college.  Nationwide, about half of all undergraduate students are first-generation col...

Take a seat at the RISE Roundtable, a podcast from Pepperdine University's Resilience-Informed Skills Education (RISE) Program, where we share and discuss what it means to build and live a life of resilience. On this first episode, we hear the origin story of RISE from the program's founders: Connie Horton, Vice President for Student Affairs, and La Shonda Coleman, Associate Vice President for Stu...