.. (; 5 a first - time editor 10 chief, started the school year --------;7".,;'- pretty stressfully One of the thmgs that worn ed me most ;0;/ was h avmg to come up with some sort of gent us theme for L-/" the book And I went all of the spn'ng 2009 semester and summe r just waiting for the perfect theme id ea to pop into my head. I was so desperate that I star ted carrying a little book around with me every– wher e J went, just in case someone said or did something that might inspire a yearbook theme idea. I would find myself i n church or in a grocery store con – sta ntly thinking about what the theme of the yearbook sho uld be. I even had a dream that when 1 revealed the theme to the staff, head photographer and good friend, Noah Darnell , d ecided h e hated it an d lead a revolt against me with th e rest of th e staff. Though I knew that would never happen , it was qu ite clear that I was ext remely worried. By the beginning ofJuly, I still had nothing. It was getting to the point where I needed to begin planning things out such as fonts, deSign, colo r s, etc. Thi s year's theme actually did nOt come to me until about two weeks before school started. This summer my family and I went the b each in Fort Walton, Fla . I was ready for a week of slee ping in late, eating what I wanted and spending all day on the beach. I was ready to give my mind a rest from my every-day responsibilities . My mind was literally exhausted from thinking about a yea rbook theme. The day we arr ived, my s iste r and I were so anxious to get down to th e beach. The weather was perfect , so we each grabbed a book and a cha ir and began making Our way to the sandy escape. It was about 4- or 5 in the afte rnoon and the waves were higher than usual. We were minding our own business, looking out over th e water and taking in the smell of salt and seaweed whe n we were interrupted by two other girls about our own age. They were smiling and said, " Hey! Can we ta lk to you girls for a little bit?" We were surprised, but said OK. 326 index The beach was fairly empty, excep t for a few· people sitti ng along the water. The two girls , Julie Che lewski and Grace Luthren explained that they were stu – dents from Abilene Christia n University and they were doing a mission project with a group of other studen ts. They p ulled out a pi ece o f paper and did an il – lustration of Romans 6:23. Then, they asked us to share a little bit of our own story with them. We told them wh ere we went to school and to chu rch. [ mentioned that I wa s a C hris t ian and that I attended Harding University in Searcy, Ark . T hey asked us to talk about our own spiritual life. We willingly talked about struggles we have had in our faith, things we still need to work o n and what God has don e in our own lives. I was completely astounded . I had never been asked to do this befo.'e. T he theme for the 2009-10 Petitjean is "Our Story." That dayon th e beach I came to the conclusion that more stories sho uld b e told and more people should want to tell their own stories. So many times , the focus of a yearbook is th e same type of things: conce ...ts of th e year, who won the homecomi ng game, what social club won the most sports and what o rganization J'aised the most mon ey . Those things are still important. But I wanted th is book to be a chance for th e people who make up Harding University to tell their own story. We fea t ured a student who had no idea what she wanted to do with her life but who knew th at God is in control. We featured athletes who sit on the bench and support their team more than anyone else. This year, we wanted to branch out and tell more stories about -1\;:t'6:'., ..., ,"-,,", ... "'~ .., '·0 Hannah Beall, Editor-/n -Chief
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