.. Living a Christian life was always e ncouraged o n Harding's campus. Every day, student s were surrounded by reminders from the scripture engraved on th e buildings to at– tending chapel and Bible studies. While Harding was known to be primarily affiliated with churches of C hri st, students came from many different re – ligious backgr ounds or n o n e at a ll. Some studen ts who grew up in Searcy or a small town experienced life simila r to what they d o as students . But fo r oth – ers, comi ng to Harding was th eir fir st time to ex – peri en ce a Ch ristian campus atmosphere. No mat– ter the stude nts' backgrounds, Harding influenced their faith, spiritual walk and the way they related to God. J unior Savannah Adams was one student who grew up in Searcy all her li fe and was a part of a fam ily that was very act ive in church. Crowing up around Christians and being influenced by them a ll owed for Adams to be changed and moved by the influences on campus . " From chapel, to Bible classes, it keeps a sp iri tual emphasis around cam pu s, but the most effec– tive spiritua l influence comes t hrough fellowship with Christian friends," Adams said . " Encouraging words based on scripture from those people get me through the rough times and make H arding a big pal· t of what it is to me." Junior Zack McKay came into Hard ing wi th a slightly different view o n things. McKay grew up in Canada in a Christian Reform church with an ac – tive church fa mily. But still, coming to Harding was influential to McKay. "I must say that my first semester h ere was very cha llenging for my faith and if J were no t involved with varsity baseball I wou ld have left after th e fir st semester," McKay said. "After many trials over th e spring and summer, my girlfrie nd Lindsey was a stro ng beginning for me to consider being b ap – tized." Se n ior Lena Towles transferred to Hardingafter attending Mesa State College in her home state of Colo rad o. Towles transferred because she wanted to go t o a Christian university. . ' "The atmosph ere of campus is positive," Towles said . "You can look at someone walking down th e side– walk and smile at each other. At Mesa everyone had their iPods in and if you smi led at someone they would look away . [People] basically don't make eye contact ." But it was more than the positive campus that Towles was attracted to . The encouragemen t on campus was a r eal draw to become a student. "At Mesa, I had to make a stand fo r my faith, which made me treasure it more ," Towles said. " It 's a lot easier for me at Harding to just go to church . If you don't go. everyone seem s to know it and it's not looked on favorably. But I am her e because I do feel closer to God because of that pressure to go to church and to live out my faith daily ." No matter the background of the students at Har– ding, this campus, the Bible classes, chapel and the students truly influenced all that they came in con tact with. Harding continued to change lives of all the stu– dents no matter where they came from or whe re they were in their spiritual walk. Jennifer Gibson Sen ior Erica Greer visits "The Ledge" in May 2009. The lookou t point near Romance, Ark" was a favorite place to go enjoy the beauty of Arkansas when needing a break from school. Courtesy of Stephonie 0 '8rion Senior Henderson Payne plays Dungeons and Dragonswi th his friends outside of the Hammond Room on Oct. 20. Henderson was in charge of the rules that night; the group met weekly to play the game and spend time together. Hogen Atkins Freshman Josh Little jumps over a big puddle on Harding 's campus on Sept. 23. During the fall semester, battling the rain was a common occurrence for students. Noah Darnell Seniors Tyler Jones, Nathan Burrows, Brett Jones and J.T. Hill have dinner a t Waffle House on Sept. 22. The group spent the spring semester of 2008 at HUF. Nick Michael ) Freshman Deshelle Issac· Boyce and junior Martinez Martin walk to class on Oct. 14. Sometimes walking across campus was the only time to catch up wth friends. Jeff Montgomery 24 student life
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