Before she runs onto the court to cheerlead at a PLNU basketball game, Colleen Murphy (26) always waves to a friend who comes to watch. But it isn’t a classmate or roommate – it’s Rico Hallahan, a PLNU staff member she connected with during the university’s annual Spring Break Build service trip to Mexico. For Murphy, small moments like these reflect the kind of faith-filled community that has defined her college experience and shaped her understanding of service and leadership.
A health and human performance major with a minor in pre-therapeutic psychology, Murphy is considering a career in nursing. Outside the classroom, in addition to cheerleading, Murphy is a discipleship group leader and a student worker for both intramural sports and the Department of Public Safety.
“Balancing all the co-curriculars and academics and then also being a student worker has taught me so much resilience,” she said. “You can’t do everything, but the things that I do, I put 110% into, and I pour my heart out into those things.”
Beneath her list of activities are not only life lessons about time management and commitment but also a consistent desire to build community. Wherever she is, Murphy aims to create spaces where people feel known, welcomed, and valued. For her, leadership is less about holding a title and more about helping others. While cheerleading, she mentors younger teammates. At D-group, she fosters fellowship around Scripture. On mission and ministry excursions, she builds bridges that extend beyond campus borders.
It was the sense of community that first brought Murphy from Fresno, California, to PLNU.
“I love San Diego, but when I visited campus for the first time, I really fell in love with the community and how everyone is just so welcoming and has their arms wide open,” she said. “You’re not a number here. Everyone is their own individual human being and that’s noticed not only by professors, but it’s noticed by administration and the president also. He sees you as a person and not just a student or not just a number in the institution.”
The care people have shown to Murphy, she, in turn, shows to others.
“I’ve been doing cheerleading for three years here, and I love the team dynamic that we’ve created,” she said. “I am grateful that the last two years of being a vet on the team I have been a mentor for freshmen, guiding them through and being a leader and being there for them when they need it. They can come to me and ask me for advice and be open and honest with me.”
She’s embraced a similar role in leading her D-group.
“It’s been so rewarding being able to be a leader and to come together once a week and read the Scripture,” she said. “It’s a place where they’re not going to be judged, and they’re welcomed and have a voice. It’s great fellowship and friendship building as well.”
Having grown up Catholic, Murphy has always prioritized church and her faith. At PLNU, she has learned to dive deeper into personal study and Bible reading. Sharing those practices as a discipleship group leader has been a blessing.
Part of her compassion for younger students also comes from her own experience. Although Murphy found community right away at PLNU and wasn’t homesick, she was initially challenged by the academic rigor of the university.
“I have ADHD and anxiety, so in my first semester, having a full academic load and not having any strict schedule, I struggled with figuring out when and how to study and how much to study for each class.”
On top of the adjustment to college academics, Murphy broke her right arm her freshman year. Being right-handed, she wasn’t able to use studying strategies she had planned to employ such as rewriting her notes to help memorize them.
Despite the initial challenges, Murphy was able to adapt and find the routines and balance she needed. In fact, thanks to taking some dual-enrollment classes in high school, she will be graduating in just three years.
“I have gotten into a good schedule of opening up my Bible and annotating it while reading,” she said. “Every time I feel stressed or have anxiety, I always take out my rosary, and I pray. I love those prayers so much. It’s an instant wave of calmness and relief.”
Those personal practices are something she likes to share with other students – whether they are her teammates, Bible study participants, or friends. It isn’t always easy for her to know when to take charge and when to step back to let others take the lead, but as she continues to grow in her faith and experiences, she is finding her way. She wants other students to understand that taking risks and learning by doing are worthwhile.
“Going out of your comfort zone and joining clubs or applying for a student job will put you in a vulnerable place, but the reward is amazing and I wouldn’t be where I am if I didn’t take that leap of faith in leadership roles.”
Of all the ways Murphy has chosen to engage and be vulnerable, perhaps none has been as impactful as Spring Break Build. She had first participated in day trips with PLNU’s Ministry to Mexico where she was struck by how intentionally the student leaders welcomed her and sought to know her as a person. Through those early trips, she began to see how the ministry partnered with a Nazarene church in Mexico to form lasting relationships. Returning to the same communities and seeing familiar faces each trip deepened her understanding of what service could look like.
That’s why she chose to participate in Spring Break Build. Although the students, faculty, and staff engaged in demanding building work, Murphy’s physical exhaustion was offset by the energizing relationships she was forming, many of which have endured long after the trip ended.
“It was so rewarding, building and being so exhausted throughout the day and then coming back together for meals and morning prayer and going back to the hotel and just spending time together as a team.”
She also found that serving others was itself rejuvenating.
“Ministry is very rewarding for me, and to me, is my rest,” she said. “Once I came to college, I realized that I love giving back to my community and pouring into the student body here. Going and pouring into another country was very eye-opening and rewarding.”
For Murphy, leadership isn’t about standing at the center — it’s about building circles wide enough for others to step inside. Each time she runs onto the court and exchanges that familiar wave from the stands, she is reminded that the communities she helps build are the very ones that sustain her.
