Graphic Courtesy of JJ Wong
Students of Pepperdine University’s Communication Division are planning “Adulting 101,” a one-day event for students facing the upcoming transition to post-grad life. The event will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Ventura County Community Foundation in Camarillo.
A group of junior and senior students in Professor Bert Ballard’s Communication 438 class are partnering with the Ventura Center for Dispute Resolution to organize an event targeting issues of adulthood for their capstone project.
Senior Holly Fielder, a student in Ballard’s class, is on the marketing committee that has been promoting the event.
“There are definitely some things that we feel like we should know by the time we graduate that school hasn’t really taught us like taxes, how to make a budget, how to make new friends when you move to a city you’ve never been to before and you don’t know anybody,” senior Holly Fielder said. “We thought it’d be a good idea to have a panel and a workshop on all those other aspects.”
Senior Johnny Latson said the purpose of the project was to focus on adulthood and the responsibilities that come with it. He said he hopes attendees take away confidence from the event and learn from the speakers and other students who will be there.
“I hope that everyone takes away that it is a scary time but everyone’s going through it together and there are people who want to help,” Latson said.
The students have decided to discuss certain issues such as job searching, graduate school, work/life balance, and budgeting at the event, with a panel of speakers and a workshop for participants.
The panel will include Pepperdine alumna and SpaceX employee Janae Royston, Professor Communication Professor Sarah Ballard, Pepperdine alumnus and Financial Adviser at Northwestern Mutual Jake Johnson and Associate Director for the Pepperdine Career Center Marla Pontrelli.
Fielder said their class of around 20 people split up into smaller committees to put together the event.
“Trying to get that many people to work together on one project can be a little challenging, but I think it’s been working really well because we’ve been splitting into smaller groups,” Fielder said. “We have small group meetings but we also have meetings with the whole group so we can stay on the same page.”
Fielder said Ballard asked them to include students from Pepperdine, Cal State Channel Islands and Cal Lutheran for the event. She said their targeted audience for this event will be juniors and seniors or those who are coming closer to a point in their life when these skills will be necessary.
“I think it’ll be a fun chance to network with people from other schools and form those connections,” Fielder said.
Senior JJ Wong is head of the marketing committee and made the flyers, coordinated social media blasts and sent out emails to connect with clubs at other colleges. Wong said they set up a rotation everyday for the past week or two to post on Pepperdine class pages and on personal pages.
“The first step is acknowledging that there maybe is no plan, but preparing yourself that when the opportunity comes, you’re able to take up the challenge,” Wong said.
Lunch will be catered for all participants and there will be a raffle with a variety of prizes for attendees.
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