Molly Adams, Pepperdine’s Resilience-Informed Skills Education graduate assistant, hosted a Halloween-themed Pumpkins & Pizza event at Gulls Way Patio on Oct. 31. for the Graduate School of Education and Psychology students to highlight two of the six dimensions of RISE.
Adams said the event focused on the social and service dimensions of resilience. Students were able to paint pumpkins and eat together. They wrote cards to people who make life less scary.
Adams said she hoped students felt positive emotions when engaging with one another during the event.
“I just hope that students can feel connected to one another and enjoy a fun moment of painting a pumpkin and writing a note to someone and just feel a brief moment of joy in their busy day,” Adams said.
Adams said she has found value in resilience and hopes to share that with others through events like this one.
“Resilience has played such a huge role in my life and the person that I am today, and I think it feels so important to me to be able to share what I’ve experienced and learned about resilience with anyone that I can, because it really does make a difference in your life,” Adams said.
Graduate student Livia Christen said she came to the event to be with friends and enjoy a mental break.
“I was like oh, I would love to do this right now and just relax from my three hour class that we just had,” Christen said.
Christen said she is going to give her note to her roommate, who is in the same program as her, because she is kind.
She said the inspiration for her pumpkin was a little gift she can add to her home.
“I honestly don’t have a whole lot of Halloween decorations, so I’m excited to add this to my home for the season,” Christen said.
Graduate student Elizabeth Eubank said she stopped at the event because she thought it would be a fun experience.
“I just saw the pumpkins, the painting and I thought it would be sweet,” Eubank said.
Eubank said her inspiration for her pumpkin came from Pinterest.
Eubank said she is writing her note for her neighbor.
“I want to give it to her tonight because I know it will be special for her,” Eubank said.
Graduate student Luciana Merriam said she saw the event from afar and decided to join.
Merriam said the event was a great way to talk to different people in her school.
“It’s been so nice and just relaxing, like a little mindful activity that also has something to do with the holidays is always like a restart for our next class,” Merriam said.
Merriam said the theme for her pumpkin were characters from the movie “Spirited Away.”
“They are super easy to draw,” Merriam said. “I’ve done a pumpkin with them before so, now I’m repeating it so I don’t have to think too much about what I’m doing.”
Merriam said she was going to write her note to her brother because it was his birthday.
“He makes life scary sometimes, but sometimes he makes it not scary,” Merriam said.
Graduate student Maha Ishaq said on her way out from class, she ran into the event and took the opportunity because she saw people painting.
“I love painting even though I’m not good at it,” Ishaq said. “I love it because it’s therapeutic.”
Ishaq said she had not been to a RISE event before but knows she would attend more in the future. She said being at the event gave her an outlet to meeting new people.
“It was so nice to meet people in the MFT program because I’ve never actually met any of them so, that was really nice,” Ishaq said.
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Contact Viviana Diaz via email: viviana.diaz@pepperdine.edu
