Sophomore celebrates star-struck birthday
Having to work on your birthday is not an ideal situation, but meeting the starring actress of “The Glasshouse,” Rita Wilson, can brighten anyone’s birthday.
Spending her 19th birthday last Saturday working at Malibu Kitchen, sophomore Jessica Ward met Wilson and her two-time Oscar-winning husband, Tom Hanks. Ward’s boss, who is friends with the actors, introduced Ward to Wilson when she realized the two women shared a birthday.
“ My boss told me it was also Rita Wilson’s birthday that day,” Ward said. “She asked me if I wanted to meet her and her husband, so I said sure.”
The nutrition science major greeted Wilson and Hanks with a smile and handshake.
“They were really nice and told me, ‘happy birthday,’ ” Ward said. “I felt better about working on my birthday.”
Freshman finds answer in baptism
Some people struggle with their beliefs during their adolescent years and some people doubt their whole life. For freshman Courtney Hong, the struggles to find her conviction wasn’t something new. But since her few months here at Pepperdine, Hong has found an answer to her qualms about God.
The journalism major was baptized Oct. 13 at the West Side Oikos Community Church in Santa Monica.
“I’ve technically been a Christian since I was six,” Hong said. “But I didn’t feel like a Christian by heart, only by name. I started having doubts a few years ago before I started college.
“This past summer I felt unsure about everything,” she continued. “I had lots of doubts. I didn’t know if going to Pepperdine was the right decision.”
Hong started reading two books that her fifth grade teacher and mother had given her called “The Case for Faith” by Lee Strobel and “The Incredible Four-Year Adventure” by John and Chris Yates.
Along with these books and the help of a friend at UCLA, Hong said she believed they helped her to get a clearer understanding of God.
Since her baptism, Hong said she has felt “really good.”
“It took me my entire life time to get ready for my baptism,” Hong said. “It was something that I chose to do. I’m glad that I went through everything that I did because God used it to help me see things clearer.”
October 31, 2002