Paula Rae Agnew - Abilene, TX Melissa Joy Alexander - Tuscaloosa , AL Yvette Ann Alexander - New Orleans, LA Christina G. Alkire - Winslow, AZ Christina K. Allbaugh - Anderson , IN Robert Joseph Allen - Huntington Beach, CA Brady Lee Allmon - Pollard , AR Cesar Arturo Angulo - San Jose, Costa Rica Michael Dale Anthony - Mountain Home, AR Joel Evan Armstrong - Vancouver, WA Sandie Marie Armstrong - Tucson, AZ Tanya Renee Atkinson - Vilonia , AR Claudia Azille - Christiansted, St . Croix , Virgin Islands Beth Allison Babb - Birmingham, AL Carla Andrea Baker - Dover, NH Tamra Lynn Baker - Lawndale, CA James Lynard Ball - Pineville, LA Shannon M. Banks - Dewey, OK Donnie Preston Barber - Shalimar, FL Kelly Christopher Barden - Searcy, AR Gary Dewayne Bates - West Plains, MO Beth Kristeen Battles - Sterling, IL 22 0 Freshmen 0 Agnew - Battles Freshman class officers. Freshmen Kim Gamer, from Little Rock, AR, Jenna Cross, from Pensacola, FL, Clay Harland, from Oxford, MS, and Jim Hull, from Columbus, OH, help to serve the freshmen class by representing them in the Student Association. The Student Association played an import.ant role as a means of voicing student opinion to the Harding faculty and administration. - photo by Bill Tripp. Becoming a fearful freshman H olding my breath to keep from crying, I clocked out for the last time. "Two and a half years is a long time to dedicate to a job," I thought. "Shoot! Eighteen years is a long time to dedicate to a hometown! I must be crazy!" I was giving up a secure job, lifelong friends, and all the comforts of home to go and live with approximately 3,000 other people I didn't know. I wouldn' t even be able to make weekend trips home, not at 700 miles each way. My fears, however, I had to shove to the back of my mind when I got home. Had I really been packing for two months and I still wasn't finished? The reality hit me when I returned to my room. I definitely was not through. I slept most of the 17-hour drive to Searcy. There was something about being awake to watch the miles go by that made me get choked up about leaving the place I'd sworn at least daily that I hated since I was ten years old. I had just started to put my life some semblance of order. Now I had to leave Zak, "The Man of My Dreams;" Sears, "The Store I Could Run On My Own if I Had To;" and Lubbock Christian School, "The School Which Had Become My Second Home." I had left my room looking like a demolition expert's target practice area. Boxes, trash, the clothes and stuffed animals which didn't make it through the judgement, and various other objects were strewn everywhere. I knew Mom would cry and clean for days - even weeks. Our motor home pulled into the parking lot behind Stephens dorm. (Yeah, I know. The one parking lot that's farthest from everything.) I stepped out to view my new home for the second time in my life and heard Mom's command to "go find out what to do." Suddenly the independence I had so wanted didn't sparkle so brightly. "I don't know where to go!" I panicked. , "Neither do I!" she replied calmly. "I'll probably have to sign something. Just bring it back here and I'll take care of it." Thanks, Mom! You'll take care of the paperwork which decides my life in the middle of the parking lot. In the business offices I'll be stamped, "The Girl Who Can't Take Care of Office Work Off the Asphalt." Once moved in, my adjustments became easier. Despite working my way through three roommates, (it's a pain when you're the only person everyone else can get along with and they all want to live with you.) I found new friends. It took some doing by me, and a peptalk about getting out and meeting people even when I missed my friends back home, but I did it! I started hanging out with "the girl downstairs." When I couldn't find her, I followed this really cute guy and his two brothers around. I followed them right into the yearbook office one day, and was on the staff literally before I knew it. I later found other good, close friends one at a time, and helped them meet each other. I lived through pledge week (which was not as bad as rumors say) and found a club, a brother club, and a beau which all suit · me perfectly. In writing the family Christmas letter, my mom called Harding "The School Christy is Sure God Built for Her." Mom's a smart lady. - Christy Cox
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