Impact Brings Them Back F or transfers and incoming freshmen, Student Impact provided a way to become familiar with campus, the dorm they would be living i n and fel– low students. A big part of what made Impact successful each year was the older students who volunteered their time to be group leaders. Senior Chelsie Burris was one who returned to school early each year in order to in– teract with and he available to help new students. As an energy group leader, Burris ' responsibilities were to make the stu– dents feel comfortable with Harding and each other and to get them better acquainted with how college life worked . T he beginn i ng stages of college could seem very stressful and overwhelming at times, but Burris was able to help lower the level of st ress that came with settling into a new place by offering to assist students and parents with moving into their new dorms. "They are normally very surprised by this and gladly take you up on it," Burris said. Many first year students who came to H arding did not know many o ther students beyond ones they had atten ded high school with . As participants in energy groups, they were able to meet new people by playing interactive games 14 student life deSigned to be icebreake r s. "Energy groups are meant to get freshman comfortable with their new en~ vironment, showing them how things worked at Harding and showing them how Harding helps out in the community," Burris said. Impact also allowed students to participate in various service projects around the community. Individual energy groups helped out in nursing homes, hand ~ ed out flyers and assisted the elderly with yard work, to name a few. The sessions that Impact students attended informed them of different clubs they could become involved with, churches in the area, fun hangout spots, sp iritual life on campus and what kind of classes they could expect to take. Impact also all owed for new students to become fr iends with upperclassmen that they might never have had a chance to meet otherwise. " I have kept in contact with about five kids per year," Burris said . "It has been great getting to know them and keep up the relationships; and now I know people of all ages on campus, not just people in my class . " Christina Hatler/ James Buce
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