Graduation. • • Graduates face the future with dreams twas hard to I face the reality of being a graduate of Harding University and having to "make it" in the real world. Looking back, the first encounter of college was so vivid in my mind. It was freshmen orientation the summer of 1983, hundreds of excited, nervous freshmen from all over the country met in Searcy, Arkansas to begin their four year adventure. :For some, four years was not enough time and they chose to stay and continue their education. For others, the thought of four years was too much. Many transferred, found jobs or got married. The friends made at orientation seemed to be forever friends, although many of us had followed our own paths we still shared a special closeness and kept in touch with each others' lives. Graduation from college was yet another milestone. It was not just a completed goal, it was special years filled with many fond memories. The anxious moments of waiting to find out what club you were in, the parties, the sleepless nights spent talking with friends and pulling pranks. Oh, the many pranks! There were even all nighters for studying. College memories are different for everybody. Although we were all a part of Harding, we were all individuals with separate dreams and goals. Walking across stage and flipping that tassle was the beginning of a whole new adventure for us. We would go on with life enriched with the blessings of those around us. Harding brought to us a chance to grow individually and with one another. We received a quality education, Joyful John . While receiving his diploma, senior John Helbig, Beaumont, Texas, shakes hands with President Clifton L. Ganus. Helbig was a Bible major while he attended Harding. - photo by Jerry Traughber. from a very warm and encouraging faculty. We learned that "family" was not just dad, mom and the kids, it was all th9se who entered our lives. We were and will continue to be made up of the "bits and pieces" of all those whose lives touched ours. ''We laughed until we had to cry, We loved right down to our last goodbye, Someday, when we both reminisce, We'll say there wasn't to much we missed, And through the tears, we'll smile when we recall, We had it all - just for a moment." (St. Elmo's Fire).• - Denise Johnston All smiles. Senior Yolanda Bogues, from Mt. Clemens, Michigan, shows her pearly whites as she exits the Benson Auditorium. Bogues graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree. - photo by Jerry Traughber. Sandcastles and Skinned Knees From bounding youths with strong hearts and strong smiles To tottering aged with vivid memories of vivid lives, We build our dreams with life So they may live on beyond our time. In the beginning.. .life was so easy! We'd bloody our noses, Skin our knees. But did we care? Naw! We'd cry one minute And laugh the next, Get back on our feet And keep right on building our dreams. Like grains of a sandcastle, the fantasies of youth are foundations for our lives. Our lives... Adulthood rushes in like a wave and breaks on the shores of youth, washing in The real world. Real hopes, real accomplishments, Real pressures, real struggles, Real ... realities. But that doesn't mean we should stop dreaming. It's time for us to make our dreams come true. The skinned knees we suffered chasing our dreams taught us to get up and run again. The sandcastles we built showed us that our dreams can become realities. We will build our lives. We.will build our future. We will build our world. We are young. Strong. Ready for the darkest shade of change. - David Dearin Graduation 41
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