Dorm Life EmilyClevenger, junior and SearcyHall resident, serves freshly baked cookies (0 Jenny Jones. junior. Searcy Hall provided female students with apartment ' style livi ng. Each apartment contai ns a kitchen area, living room and bathroom with twO sinks. The dorm also provides washers and drye rs on each floor , which made doing laundry easier and more acces ible. 9rom OnE dormitory to another, groups Of girls stick together Dorm life is an integral part of the college experience, especially at Harding where housing rules and regulations serve to bond smdems. Many students value the togetherness that the 11 p.m. weekday curfew and midnight weekend curfew provide and use the time ro discuss the daywith friends. "We don' t get (0 see each other that much during the day, so we talk at curfew," Keeley Hutchison. junior. said. "You know everyone is goi ng to be there. We sir our in rhe hal l and ralk. " Hutchison lived with 20 ofher closest friends on the first floor of Kendall Hall fot the second year in a row. Livingwith your best friends has its advantages, accotding to Hutchison. "We all met the second semester of our freshman year and thought it would be fun to live together," Hutchison said. "It 's the friendship factor. It 's nice to always have a fr iend around. " During their sophomore year, the girls initiated weekly prayer meetings and birthday parties fo r each girl. T hey also organized ahall function to Memphis for a hockey game and dinner at Rendezvous. As freshmen, the gi rl soriginallywanted to get rooms in Stephens Hall , but when spacing became limited, they opted to room in Kendall where more rooms were available together. The girls had (0 make another housing decision last year after only a few girls were able to secure rooms in Searcy Hall. Rarher rhan splir rhe group, rhe girls forfeired rheir space in the uppercl assman dorm and opted to spend 14 Student Life another year in Kendall with their friends. "Some of us could have been in Searcy Hall, but it was more important to stay with friends," Hutchison sa id. "The people who gor into Searcy Hall decided ir wasn' t worth it, so we decided to live together in Kendal l agai n. " The group is now passing the tradition (0 a new group of Kendal l residents. "When we saw that they were able to room together, we knew we could do it," said Hope Huckeba, sophomore. Huckeba is a Resident Assistant on the third floor of Kendall and lives wirh 30 of her closest fri ends. Rooming around your fri ends makes sense, according to Huckeba. "J uSt having that support close by, I know someone's always goi ng to be here," Huckeba said. "Plus, there's open closets everywhere." While neither of the groups know how permanent their livi ng arrangement will be, they did say they would stay together as long as possi ble. "It is just a priority for all of us to be together," Huckeba sa id. Although ir is very tough to keep a hall togerher through the years, it is a great way to establish a famil ylike relationship with friends and make memories that will last a lifetime. "God has real ly blessed me by putting rhese girls in my life," Jaren Page, junior, said. "No matter where we are or what we are doing, we have a great time. " - Sarah T erry • t •
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