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Foundation FLY works through three programs and focuses on three issues facing students.  First, the organization produces empowerment cards and other inspirational materials they distribute at schools and youth events. The second program, known as FLY Read, goes to elementary schools and reads inspirational stories, written by Gray himself.

“I tried to put a lot of my own experiences into the stories to connect with the kids,” Gray said.

The third program involves an extensive social media campaign, disseminating positive material through Facebook, Twitter, a blog and an online video series.

“Cyber-bullying is a big thing now, and that’s what I want the social media side to address,” Gray said.

Using the Las Vegas schools’ trimester system, Gray decided to focus each third of the school year on a different area of empowerment. To start the school year, the organization stresses educational achievement. Continuing in the second trimester, the emphasis is on style, encouraging kids to find self-confidence in their own tastes and life decisions. The theme of the third trimester, toward the end of the year, is that of goals and empowering students to dream big, and to find success in accomplishment.

Together, Gray hopes these will help to inspire teens and lead to increased self-betterment, higher self-confidence and decreased bullying.

“I was bullied as a teen — I’ve been there, and kids need to know that they need to keep going and not give up,” Gray said.

Running a non-profit while living in a different city can be difficult, but Gray believes by focusing on social media and creation of materials, he can keep Foundation FLY running, even while away from home. Once this school year is over, he plans on using the summer to assess the strengths of the organization so far and plan events and operations for the coming year.

“I plan on going to London, so this summer will be important for getting everything set up while I’m gone,” Gray said.

This venture is in its beginning stages now, only halfway through its first year. Gray wants to expand in the coming years, especially after he graduates and can devote himself full-time to its operation. “Right now, it’s a lot of low-key communication. I’d like to expand to mass communication like billboards and larger events.”

A major component of Foundation FLY’s growth and expansion is community involvement, including teachers, administrators and church and community leaders.

“I’m definitely learning about ways to change for next year and how to better impact the community,” Gray said. “It’s low-key right now, but in the coming years I want to expand and get even more of the community involved.”

Gray especially hopes to get more participation from the actual students being helped by the programs.

“As you grow up, you get out of the loop of what it’s like to be a teen, so it’s important to keep teens involved inspiring other teens,” Gray said.

Gray is majoring in business administration to gain the skills necessary for running a large non-profit organization. Gray plans on using his skills to create even more ways to reach kids and grow Foundation FLY to the point where it can open new operations in Los Angeles before moving to other areas of the west coast, and then going national. Gray wants to be able to someday turn his organization into a media empire of inspirational books, music and videos available to a wide audience.

“I want to expand this to the heights that God has planned and have faith that it can soar,” Gray said.

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MALIBU, CALIF. — With four starters finishing in double figures, the men’s basketball team (9-18, 3-12) emerged victorious over Portland, 70-65, on Feb. 18.

Senior Taylor Darby led the team with 17 points and six rebounds, freshman Jordan Baker followed close behind with 17 points and five rebounds, and senior Corbin Moore added a solid 10 points and eight rebounds.

Considering the outcome, the first half proved to be a warm-up for the Waves. Back-to-back buckets in the key helped the team gain a 16-12 lead over the Pilots (6-21, 3-11) with 10 minutes remaining.

However, the Pilots capitalized after a couple of missed three-pointers by the Waves, and managed to take the lead. Portland carried their slim lead to the end of the half, 27-26.

Baker kicked off the scoring for the Waves in the second half, putting his team up 31-29.

Highlights for the Waves from the second half included a pinpoint no look assist from junior guard Joshua Lowery to junior guard Caleb Willis, and a dunk by Darby off of a dish from Moore.

On defense, the team held up stronger in the second half, forcing turnovers at key possessions to gain a commanding lead.

In the beginning of the second half a tough defensive play combined with a forced turnover and a three-pointer by Moore, gave the Waves a 36-31 lead. Then, after a three-pointer by the Pilots, the team jumped out on a four point run to put the Waves ahead, 47-34, the largest lead of the game.

Portland’s athletic freshman guard Kevin Bailey tore up the Waves on the offensive end with 18 points. Bailey scored 10 of those points in the second half, including a dunk.

To add to that, the Pilots developed a hot hand within the last three minutes of the match-up, and were able to close the gap, but the Waves’ second half 82.4 percent free throw shooting was enough to fend them off.

The team has one more conference game at Santa Clara on Feb. 23 before traveling to Las Vegas for the WCC Tournament.

Other game notables include that the Pepperdine coaching staff sported dark blue bowties in support of raising awareness for Prostate Cancer. Many men’s basketball program alumni were also in attendance for the senior night game, along with former Pepperdine hall of fame coach Jim Harrick.

A genre that encompasses many subgenres, the original House Music was born in Chicago during the early ’80s. A descendant of disco, the underground scene welcomed a deeper more synthesized sound with one intention — to bring people together and make them dance.

The underground culture welcomed people of all races and sexual orientation, which attributed to their popularity. Two nightclubs in particular, The Warehouse in Chicago and Paradise Garage in New York, were pivotal to the origins of what later became House and Garage.

Photos by: Meagan McCarty

The style in New York was more down-tempo, which then went on to become a founding pillar for dubstep, while the style in Chicago was more upbeat, giving birth to House Music.

DJ Frankie Knuckles set the stage for House Music during his days at The Warehouse, which was primarily visited by black men looking to dance to disco. Around the time that Knuckles left The Warehouse, DJ Ron Hardy, a key player in the gay club scene, arrived at The Music Box. Hardy’s raw rhythms became the signature of House Music and transformed the Chicago sound, making The Music Box an inspirational place for DJs and producers.

For most DJs during this time, the goal was to create music that people would dance to at clubs and parties, leaving records aside. However, without radio, House music would never have gained such massive popularity. In order to bring their sound to a wider public, DJs began to play late-night sets on the radio station WBMX, so that even those who would have never stepped inside a club could hear their music.

As the House movement gained momentum, it began to branch out. Subgenres such as deep house and acid emerged through different musical influences.

In New York and New Jersey, the music heard in clubs could retrace its origins to R&B, with a greater emphasis on soulful instrumentals and vocals. Combined with the electronic drum sound, this style eventually became known as deep house. The New York and New Jersey sound led to a transformation that focused on the actual song itself.

On the other hand, DJ collaboration Phuture and Ron Hardy were playing with a Roland TB-303 bassline machine. The squelching noises combined with a deep repetitive drum sound led to Acid House.

These are just two examples of the many different subgenres that broke out of the original sound in Chicago. House Music even snuck into the top pop charts in the late ’80s and early ’90s with artists like Madonna (“Express Yourself”) and C+C Music Factory (“Gonna Make You Sweat”).

The ’90s continued to be a time of experimentation and the development of new sounds and subgenres. In fact, in 1991 DJ Justin Berkmann created a nightclub solely devoted to the House movement – London’s Ministry of Sound. This club went on to not only become an international symbol of electronic music, but also a brand of music labels that include annual compilations of EDM hits.
At the end of the ’90s the influential and widely popular progressive House emerged with artists including Daft Punk and Basement Jaxx.

The 2000’s saw the development of Progressive House to the extent that it became the most predominant subgenre in the popular club scene. With the rise of the subgenre came the rise of DJs like Swedish House Mafia, deadmau5 and Afrojack.

House is still bumping in clubs all around the world. From artists like Ron Hardy to Avicii, what has remained prevalent is the deep rhythmic 4 by 4 sound. Its continual evolution has allowed it to stay at the front of club culture and make it one of the most recognized and popular dance genres of the world.

House Music Playlist:
Ron Hardy — “Trax A (Frankie Knuckles Remix)”
Nightwriters — “Let the Music Use You”
Phuture — “Acid Trax”
Daft Punk — “Alive”
Basement Jaxx — “Where’s Your Head At?”
David Guetta ft. JD Davis — “In Love With Myself”
Swedish House Mafia — “One”
Avicii — “Levels”

Check out the playlist!

Last year, there were weekly meetings where an allotment of $5,000 was given out, Byrd said. Representatives from all 85 ICC-member clubs could attend and vote on which clubs would receive money. The reality was that clubs would really only attend when they wanted money, and all of the proposals would pass because the voters just wanted to get their money and get out.

“Last year, people were not really committed,” Byrd said.

Another problem with the way the fund allocation process worked last year was a result of how requests were submitted to the council, according to Vice President of Finance Geoff Plourde.

“The funding process rewarded people for early submission instead of the merits of their proposal,” Plourde said.

The new Funding Committee, which allocates money on a weekly basis, is comprised of one representative from every club category. There are a total of seven voting representatives as well as Plourde, the Vice President of Development, Gabbi Wilson, and the Vice President of Operations, Devon Walker. Byrd runs the meetings, and as a result, is a non-voting member.

The representatives were chosen by application, Byrd said.

The Funding Committee also looks at every request that is brought up each week. As a result, the meetings usually last around two hours instead of the 30 minutes that were spent on the meetings last year.

“This year, people actually spend a lot more time talking,” Byrd said. “The students on the committee really care about what is going on and the changes that were made have been really good.”

Byrd said the new meetings are much more effective in allocating funds well, and the changes have been met with a positive response from the representatives, too.

“I think the changes overall are good,” said Nduka Nwankwo, committee representative. “They have helped the allocation process to function better. One problem that I see is that sometimes, with fewer people, one person can easily sway the opinions of other members, and it is sometimes more difficult than it needs to be to get funding passed.”

The changes put in place this semester will be reviewed in order to see if others should be made for the future, Plourde said.

“Overall we want ICC to be a catalyst for collaboration between clubs rather than just the place that hands out money,” he said.

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Photo By: Mallory Cummins

Plans for the orientation are still in its finishing stages, and Jeff Hamilton, director of IP admissions and student affairs, said they’ve revamped the orientation from previous years. The goal is to get students to drink responsibly, but the definitive approach to this has yet to be decided, Hamilton said.

“We are aware that alcohol is part of the culture and the students will be exposed to it,” Hamilton said. “Our hope is that they are exposed to it through how the culture intended it to be used. But that goes the same with experiencing the food or the art or the landscape; we want them to take it in context.”

Sophomore Meredith Nelson returned to campus this January following a semester in Heidelberg and feels indifferent to the shift in alcohol policy and culture. She said that because alcohol had become the norm, she and her classmates did not have any issues with it.

Of course, there were the few who took advantage of the opportunity to say hello and good-bye to unchecked drinking. But since her homecoming, Nelson hasn’t touched alcohol nor feels the need to.

“The first week some students feel outside of a cage, therefore they abuse,” Director of the Buenos Aires (BA) program Dr. Rafael De Sanzo wrote in an email. “After living with local families and experiencing the social drinking habit from local students … they learn how to enjoy alcohol within their journey.”

De Sanzo wrote that the BA program is a completely different experience from that of Pepperdine, and the students there, being adults, have much more freedom.

Dr. Carolyn Vos Strache, program director of the London program, relies on alcohol awareness training for incoming students rather than planning for the punishment of alcohol offenders. Their program, “Mind the Limit,” which encourages students to drink responsibly, was recently presented to the American Association of Study Abroad Programs Association. Faculty and RAs, who have been known to go to pubs and clubs with students, encourage students to limit drinks to a healthy amount per night.

“Our alcohol abuse numbers in London are below the 10 percent — which would be four per semester for violations,” Vos Strache wrote. “We usually have 1 to 2 per semester. Thus far in 2012, we have had zero. We think the training is having an effect on developing effective decision making regarding alcohol consumption.”

Both the London and Buenos Aires directors agree the programs do not oppose drinking, just drunks.

New research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that the 18 to 24-year-old age bracket boasts the most binge drinkers. Regular binges and their intensity — averaging 9.3 drinks — were highest in young adults. The CDC notes most people who binge drink are not alcohol dependent, but what happens when the age group is put into an academic setting, in a foreign country?

A 2010 University of Washington study published in the “Psychology of Addictive Behaviors” found that U.S. college students more than double their alcohol consumption while studying abroad. The study suggests studying abroad can present a high-risk situation involving drinking.

It’s undecided whether the study is reflective of IP. The average drinking habits went from having four drinks a week to eight. Those in the study under 21 increased their drinking by almost 170 percent. Most students in IP are under 21.

“This is one of the things I feel especially bad about, and if those studies hold true, then Europeans may be getting the sense that young Americans can’t hold their liquor or they don’t know their limits,” said Dr. Paul Contino, a 2008 summer and inbound Florence faculty member. “Europeans don’t drink to excess. They drink because it’s part of the social fabric of having a meal together and enjoying company.”

Contino told the story of Saint Augustine of Hippo’s mother Saint Monica who quit drinking altogether once she started liking the taste of it too much. He also related to the Italian phrase “bella forma,” or good form, to explain how Europeans generally conduct themselves.

The freedom found within the international programs is a stark contrast to the dry campus rules of Malibu and may surprise freshmen preparing to go abroad, an issue that comes up in the IP interview. Some students said they were taken aback by the exhaustive focus on drinking during the tense interview — a ritual that includes dressing formally and preparing heavily.

“It was half the interview where he talked about alcohol and drugs and basically asked if we had ever tried alcohol and drugs,” freshman Kaelyn Lark, admitted to the London program’s spring semester, recalled of her interview. “We all obviously said, ‘No,’ and then he asked if it was because of the Christian mission here. He then explained the reasoning behind his questions: a lot of students have experienced [alcohol abuse] in the past when of they come back. That’s why they take it so seriously,”

The average legal drinking age at the IP countries is 18 or older. Most Pepperdine students enroll in IP as sophomores. According to Frommer’s Travel Guides, the countries that IP inhabit have “no liquor laws worth worrying about.”

One in four full-time college students in that year faced alcohol abuse or dependence, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.