Junior Saliha Stewart pauses before her performance at the first Campus Activities Board open mic night at Starbucks on Sept. 24. CAB held open mic nights frequently in the Starbucks Community Room for students to share their musical talents. Jerry Eberly Junior Mariah Swisher and senior Sam Morris perform with their group Four West on the front lawn Aug. 20. The group opened for the free Green River Ordinance concert as a part of CAB's "First Week Free." Matt Dobson TRANS ITI ON STUDENTS WELCOME MCLARTY The Student Association chose "Transition" as its overarching theme for the school year. Seeking to successfully integrate a new freshman class and a new president, the SA wanted to convey that Harding as a Christian community was constantly in a state of transition. When planning for the school year, the SA said they wanted to look at Harding's current condition in a different way. They wanted the theme to be applicable to everyone, not just the new president or Harding as an entity. "We are only here at Harding for four or five years, so the college experience is essentially a transition period," SA president senior Tyler Gentry said. "And even though our university is in a presidential transition, we are all always in a spiritual transition." While there were specific events and transitions everyone could identify, the SA wanted to point out those that went unnoticed every year. Each student might be going through his or her own transitions, such as changing majors or forming new relationships. "Life is a transition," SA vice-president senior Joseph McManus said. "We as humans have fallen from God, and our entire lives [are] a process of us growing back into holiness with Him." With the new theme, the SA strove to become involved with students on a personal level. The university was going through many transitions, but so was each individual student. "Each student in his or her own life are all in a personal state of change," SA secretary senior Kelli Mott added. "Whether that be coming in and out of college, choosing a career or big life choices." The SA's purpose was to accommodate those changes and choices in the most meaningful way possible. They did not want to focus on Mclarty at the expense of individual students, but they realized that getting him involved in students' lives was still important. Many events were planned to connect the student body with its new president. They even hosted the Mclarty Party, an event that included live music, food and T-shirts before the first home football game against Northwestern Oklahoma State University Sept. 14. The SA wanted people to look back at the 2013-2014 school year and know that it was a historical year. "This is something that many of us don't experience," Gentry said. "We are going to embrace it and celebrate it. We are also going to focus on the changes throughout life. How to cope with them and make light of them." With so many changes happening, the SA renewed its focus on student feedback and involvement. "There is a big transition going on overhead and students don't know what that means forthem personally, but we want them to know that their opinion matters and is valued," SA treasurer senior Zee Rock said. The year of transition demonstrated just how unified the campus could become as the SA, university president and student body worked together to make the year a success. Grant Schol
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