Every Gift Has a Story
When you make a gift to Pepperdine, you play a critical role in accelerating our students' progress toward achieving their life dreams as well as enabling them to become the kind of purpose-driven servant leaders who can change the world for the better. Without a doubt, scholarships grant opportunities and impact lives. Read the stories of success that donor philanthropy makes possible every day throughout our campus community.
Law School Student's Mission is to be an Agent of Change
Jennifer Chor, a first-generation law student, knew she wanted to be in a profession in which she could profoundly help others. She concluded that becoming a trial lawyer would enable her to achieve that goal, and she’s never looked back. She chose to attend the Caruso School of Law through an endowed scholarship which has helped her focus more on serving the community and not on school finances.
Graduate With Three Pepperdine Degrees Gives the Gift of Education to Future Students
Dr. Shreyas Gandhi (‘98, ‘09, ‘20) adjunct professor and alumn with multiple Pepperdine degrees, feels very strongly about giving back to the school that has done so much for him and believes that the gift of education will open many doors for future students. He and his wife established the Drs. Shreyas and Swati Gandhi Leadership Fund.
GSEP Graduate Establishes Scholarship to Give Back to Those Who Serve Our Country
Evelyn Booth, a Graduate School of Education and Psychology graduate, created the Curtice and Evelyn Booth Veterans Endowed Scholarship to help prevent any potential barriers to organizational leadership, teaching or mental health positions veterans might face so that they can further contribute to our community when they return from duty.
SPP Grad Student Heeded The Lord's Will to Change Her Life's Mission
A generous scholarship helped Renee Jackson change the course of her life as a pre-med student to study public policy instead. She aspires to pursue her juris doctorate and specialize in international and comparative law focusing on human rights.
Professor-Student Partnership Engage in Study to Change the Way We Treat Obesity
For Akin Akinwumi, an athletic scholarship recipient and sports medicine major, his participation in a physiology study has been invaluable to his future career goals. He plans to become an orthopedic doctor heavily involved in research.
Joshua Elizondo Offers Inspiration and Guidance to Fellow Foster Youth
Joshua Elizondo, a first-generation college student of color, grew up in the foster care system. As a Pepperdine Horizon Scholars Program recipient, he advocates for foster youth and hopes his efforts will increase the population of fosters at Pepperdine.
A Marine Corps Veteran Realizes His Dream to Experience a New Culture
Isaac Torres, a PeppVet, entered Seaver College under the Yellow Ribbon Program and during his first year he learned about a scholarship opportunity to spend a semester abroad from Pepperdine's director of veteran student affairs.
SPP Student with MS Plans to Use her Advanced Education to Advocate for the Disabled
Alaya McKinney hopes to change the stigma of what Multiple Sclerosis (MS) looks like and let the world know that there is no limit to what an MS patient can achieve. Her scholarship enables her to pursue her dreams without debt stress to obtain her juris doctorate, MBA, become a disability rights attorney and, one day, a California senator.
Loving Parents Leave a Lasting Legacy in Honor of Their Son
Every year, the Mark Colombano Memorial Scholarship fund supports two students who have a love of learning and leadership, a passion for the University's extracurricular activities, and are devoted to education and athletics as Mark was.
Young Maestro Shares His Love of Music with the World
All of the musical life-changing experiences would not have been possible had Samuel Sun not been awarded dual Pepperdine scholarships. He plans to pursue a career as a professional orchestral musician, chamber musician, teacher, and conductor.