A Knight's Tale Several traditions defined the H arding experience, and one of the biggest was social clubs. Duri n g o n e particular week in the fall the Student Center was a fr ay of pandemonium, full of numerous groups of match ing students, loud singing and chanting, running and a myriad of other cr azy antics. In the fall of 2009, freshmen Tyler Fonville experienced this week, which had come to be known as Club Week, a dreaded and favorite week for many students, aU depending on which side of it you were on. Older mem– bers enjoyed watching a group of people bond together by overcom– ing adversity and participating in ma ny trying times during the week. However, for the new members seeking to get into a club, it was a week full of seem ingly endless activities and proj ects. all o f which Fonville had to do in order to become a Knight. Fonville had some connection to Knights that drew him there in the first place. His dad , his uncles and many of his cousi ns were in Knights during their time at Harding, so through them he always had a good view of Knights. However , he did not want to choose a club based solely on the fact that he had family connections to it. "Since I have gotten o lde r and have actually gotten to college now I needed to know for myself, so I compared them to other clubs," Fon– ville said. "What I noticed about Knights [was thad their brotherhood is a whole lot closer, 1 think. than a lot of clubs ... We keep each other accountable. they have a good mixture of guys," Fonville said. During the beginning of th e year, Fonville was really drawn to the Knights mixers. "Their mixers were really creative and [older members] all came up and talked to me and wanted to know me. [ I liked] the fact that we could dress up as crazy as we wanted to . " When Fonville got his bid on Sunday, he said all he could do was yell really loudly. After a brief moment of celebrat ion he began to fo– cus because he knew that the next week would be a tough one. Fonville. along with the other Squires, was stressed, especially at the beginning of the week. It took them a whil e to become unified because they did not know each other before the week started. Fonville's pledge name for the week involved him walking like a rooste r and playing a flut e to the tune of the famous theme song from Disn ey's Robin Hood, which was given to him because he was in the band. "Going to the Student Center and not knowing any of the Knights' names [was the part] that I dreaded," Fonville said . "Pretty much the week [involved] going to the student center and trying to get their signatures The week held much more than just going to the student center, each night was full of various activities as well as the campus-wide all– club devo. Monday night consisted of a dinner where the Knights served food to and visi ted with the women's social club, Delta Gamma Rho. T he next night the Knights did a service project at the animal shelter with womens social club. Ko Jo Kai. Since all-club devo did not take place on Wednesday, the Knights had a devo with the]u Go]u women's social club. For Knights , however, Thursday held a famous Knights activity that was open to the public: the Knight'sJoust. "1 thought it was going to be rockin' awesome!" Fonville said. The joust was a time for the squires to dress up (for Fonville this meant dreSSing up like Nacho Libre in black and green), bring a date and joust against their fe llow squires. This allowed them a chance to blow off som e of the str ess that might have mounted from earlier in the week. However, Friday was quickly coming. With the mysterious rough night approaching fast, Fonville admit– ted he was getting nervous. " I was scared, but I prayed with my brothers the night before and pretty much all week and God kept me strong all the way through," he said. As the rough night's activities were coming to a close and Fonvill e was offiCially being inducted into the club someth ing very unique hap – pened. "Out of nowhere my dad comes out of the crowd." Fonville said. "That was probably one of the most amazing things about that night because he was a Knight and I am a second generation Knight for our family. That was really an emotional part . h e loved me, [and that was] the gr eatest feeling . " Finally, the week was finished . The trying times were over and Fon– ville and the rest of his pledge class could take rest in the fact that they wer e n ow official members of the club. " I felt like I stayed strong. We got through it as a team and as a unit, an d man , was I happy," he said. " I was overwhelmed with slight confu– sion, but then that was drowned out by Joy and JUSt like. 'Wow! I have a whole new set of brothers.' I love Knights; it is just awesome!" Steven Chandler Fonville practices a cheer with the rest of the Squires before roll call on Oct. 23. His pink hat was given to him by his lord knight to be worn during club week. Nick Michael On Oct. 18, the first night of club week, freshman Tyler Fonville sits among his pledge brothers for the first time. Each pledge had to dress his best every day in khakis and white button-down shirts. Nick Michael Fonville plays his flute on Oct. 18 as a part of his pledge name. Each guy was given a pledge name and had to recite it immediately when asked. Nick Michael Fonville gets advice from other members on how to make his Knights Joust armor. The Joust was a tradition the new pledges and old members participated in every year. Nick Michael club week 255
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