2018-2019 Parris Awards Honor Students' Commitment to Purpose, Service, and Leadership
April 8, 2019 | Each spring, Pepperdine Law invites all faculty, staff, and students to nominate outstanding student candidates - those who represent the heartbeat of the school - for the Annual Parris Awards. The Parris Awards honor those third-year students who exhibit the highest order of the pillars of professionalism in all that they pursue, and it was standing room only in the atrium as our community gathered to recognize this exceptional graduating class. Since its inception in 2015, the Parris Institute for Professional Formation has initiated a strategic investment in law students with an emphasis on developing who they are as leaders as much as what they know as lawyers.
This year's award ceremony was made even more meaningful as Institute founders Carrol and R. Rex Parris were on hand to present each recipient with a framed certificate.
Nominations are based on actual narratives of stories that capture each candidate's attributes. The 2019 Parris Award recipients are:
The Pepperdine Award
The 3L who has demonstrated an exemplary commitment to Pepperdine's mission of purpose, service, and leadership
Winner: Sarah George
Presenter: Dean Caron
Excellence in Leadership
3Ls who have demonstrated exemplary leadership in any area during their tenure at Pepperdine Law
Winners: Ava Jahanvash, Colten Stanberry
Presenter: Jeff Baker, Michael Helfand
Excellence in Courage
3Ls who have demonstrated exemplary courage facing challenges, fighting injustice, or other circumstance during their tenure at Pepperdine Law
Winners: Nathaly Medina, Chris Hickman
Presenter: Jeff Baker, Victoria Schwartz
Excellence in Character
3Ls who have demonstrated exemplary character consistent with the highest ideals of the profession during their tenure at Pepperdine Law
Winners: Lavinia Osilesi, Rmani Crawford
Presenter: Selina Brandt, Maureen Weston
Excellence in Professionalism
3Ls who have demonstrated exemplary professionalism during their tenure at Pepperdine Law
Winners: Ashley Gebicke, Tracy Smith
Presenters: Greg Ogden, Shelley Saxer
Excellence in Peacemaking
3Ls who have demonstrated exemplary work as an instrument of peace and justice to those near and far who suffer from violence and injustice
Winners: Christal Porter, Sarah Hamill
Presenter: Jim Gash, Danny DeWalt
Excellence in Service
3Ls who have demonstrated exemplary service to a person, family, or community in need during their tenure at Pepperdine Law
Winners: Analise Nuxoll, Matt Myatt, Jake Herbert
Presenter: Bob Cochran, Jim Gash, Danny DeWalt
Evan T. Carthen 1L Awards for Inspirational Leadership
The Evan T. Carthen Awards for Inspirational Leadership are named for Evan Carthen who was a member of the Class of 2019. As his class graduates this May, Pepperdine Law commemorated his influence on this graduating class, our students, and our school by presenting his mother and father with a special mark of his time at the law school. Ms. Twillea Evans-Carthen then presented the Evan T. Carthen Award for Inspirational Leadership to three first-year students, one student per law section.
(Section A) Roxanne Swedelson
(Section B) Kelly Shea
(Section C) Zino Osehobo
Presenter: Twillea Evans-Carthen
This year's distinguished guests included Carol and R. Rex Parris, Executive Vice President Gary Hanson, Senior Vice Chancellor Sara Young Jackson, Associate Vice President of Planning, Operations and Construction and of the Department of Public Safety Lance Bridgesmith, Chief Business Officer Nicolle Taylor, Dean Paul Caron, and the Carthen Family.