At Loyola Marymount University, education is about the journey of the whole person. That means nurturing not just intellect, but also emotional awareness, self-understanding, and personal growth. It’s about helping students explore who they are, how their identities have been shaped, and how those experiences continue to influence the people they’re becoming.
This idea came to life during a recent event called “Molding Identity,” where students were invited to pause, reflect, and reconnect with themselves through a unique blend of movement and creativity. Grounded in the practices of meditation and art therapy, and centered on hands-on clay sculpting, the experience provided a space for students to explore their personal narratives in a tangible and transformative way. In a world that often demands constant motion and performance, “Molding Identity” provided something rare: stillness, intention, and the freedom to shape not just clay, but meaning and reflect on one’s identity. The event was part of Chicanx Latinx Student Services (CLSS) annual Latinx Heritage Month celebration and was co-sponsored by LGBT Student Services (LGBTSS) and FitWell from the Burns Recreation Center.
“This event is something we have done every year with CLSS and LGBTSS for the past three years,” said Michelle Kiser, assistant director for Campus Recreation for Fitness. “In the past, we focused this experience around a sound bath, but this year we wanted to change it up a bit. FitWell is mainly focused on developing programs that involve collaborations with other departments and incorporate dimensions of wellness. Intellectual wellness was our theme for the month of September, and part of looking at your intellectual wellness is taking a moment to pause and reflect on what your identity is when it comes to being a student and coming to experience college at LMU.”
As FitWell Marketing and Events manager, Delaney Rendon ’26, an English and public relations major from Los Angeles, created “Molding Identity” in collaboration with other students in the FitWell program. “What we do at FitWell is really encouraging students in the LMU community to tap into aspects of wellness beyond what most people think wellness is about, the physical and the mental aspects,” said Rendon. “We really wanted a way to create an interactive experience that could be central to everyone by including an art therapy activity in the event. We really tried to look at something that could get people to reflect on their identity, and when we got to clay, we really tried to think of ways people could connect the idea of molding their identity, like the molding of clay, and create a piece that was unique to them that they could walk away with.”
To begin the experience, Kiser sat in the center of a circle, and the student participants were on yoga mats in a circle. She then led them through a meditation to focus and reflect on the multiple identities a college student can have, including their major, involvements such as a sorority or fraternity, family background, and cultural heritage. Kiser then asked students to think about, “how do all those identities fit in your body, reside in your body, and interact in your body.” She focused the practice on not judging the identities, not imposing an ego on them, but allowing the identities to come into the student, to honor and recognize their presence, and giving space for each one.
After the meditation had finished, students could go up to a table and get clay to mold and shape into whatever they wanted, whatever felt good, and represented their identity in that moment. The FitWell team also brought seashells, letter blocks, pressed flowers, and other small trinkets for students to press into the clay. “This offered students a tangible way that they could see their identity in the piece they were creating from the clay,” said Kiser. “If they liked going to the ocean, they could add the seashells, or if they are Italian, they could add the letters to it. Putting all of that together into a craft and molding the clay was an idea and a way to bring their identity to life. Look at the fact that their identity is many different things; it’s molded by your own hands and recognize how beautiful their identity is.”
For Rendon, creating the space for students was really important, taking a moment to pause, meditate, and ultimately taking time to give back to themselves. “This made the clay piece that students created more true and unique to them, especially coming out of how they felt after the meditation,” said Rendon. “This event really allowed our team to create an interactive experience that empowered our community to come together, which has been one of the many ways we’re living out FitWell’s mission. People really enjoyed it. We saw students who wanted to stay after the event had concluded. And they wanted to keep molding the clay while being together as a community.”