Lisa Spears, HR Assoc. Benefits Vicki Speice, Project Coordinator Jay Simpson, Assoc. Dir. or Fin. Aid. Services Lynn Smeltzer, Academic Coord. of Upward Bound Diane Smith, Aclmin. or Stu. Support Ser, iccs Emily Smith, B.B.A.. J\clvancemcnt Prog. Coord. Traci Smith, .\ccount ;\ lgr./Business Office La:'\ellc Stamps, Services Coord. or Up"·ard Bound Ryan Stirrup, Bus. Analyst/LS&T Patti Summers, r\dmin..\ sst. / \\'aldron Center i\ancY Tackeu, Admin. Asst. to Provost Glrn Tankersley, Prog. Analyst/\\'eb Dc,·eloper Jo)· Tapley. Asst. to Dir. Career Center Brandon Tittle, Asst. Dean or Students Da,·icl Underwood, B.A., Senior Officer of Harding, Fund Lisa Valentine, Secretary of Biology/Chemistn: Naomi Valentine, Instructional Designer for I~&T Stacey Vaughn, Asst. Dir. of .\clmis~ion, ELATION FOR Df~CORATION By: Erin Raimondi Bob Barnett. preYcntative maintanence service specialist, came to Harding in October 2008 as a seasonal worker with the task of putting up Christmas lights a round campus. Once Ba rnett got to Harding, he became attracted to the spirit in the community. "I was up in a tree hanging lights and watching what goes on, and I [saw] e\'erybody going with a Bible in their hand, hugging each other, telling how much they love each other land] how glad they are to see each other," Barnett said. "There's something different about this place, and it didn't take me too much longer Lo decide I wanted to be a part ofit." Barnett's seasonaljob turned in10 a full-time job as a maintenance technician. During the holidays, Barnell was in charge of putting up and taking down the decorations around campus. For the last nine years, Liz Howell, \'ice prcsidem of alumni and parent relations, and Cindy Hunter, cxccuti,-c assistant lo president, also teamed up vvith Barnett to decorate the campus. "Liz and I were doing it before Bob came on the scene," Hunter aid. "\Ve feel blessed to have him with his forklift to help. It·s been fun.'' This team had the decorating process clown to a science. Each year they had about a month to decorate trees on the entire campus and put up over 600 wreaths and ribbons, with the help of many volunteers. Barnett's technical experience and background in design helped the decorating process go smoothly. Barnett's background was similar to many at Harding. He was raised in the Church of Christ. He knew the scriptures and songs, but never connected with them. After three years at Harding, he decided to become a Christian. '"vVhen he first came we called him 'Bob the Builder,"' Howell said. "Then he became a Christian and now he's 'Bob the Believer.' H e had run his whole life, but he foundj esus at H arding." For Barnett, the ChrisLmas season reminded him of the second chance and community that changed his life fore\'er. "The biggest thing about [Christmas] is to reflect a nd look back at what brought me here a nd what b<'gan so many blessings," Barnett said. "It's wonderful and it's stressful, but it tells me as I'm doing it, this is what brought [me] here. 'Look where you are now. Look where you've come."' Bob Barnett, preventative maintenance service specialist, stands with 20 of over 120 spools of Christmas lights that are hung on trees across thefro nt lawn every year. The 2 01 6 holiday season was Barnett's ninth year to aid in decorating campus before the lighting ceremony on Nov. 28, an annual tradition that attracted a large crowd of those in the Harding, Searcy and surrounding communities. \ Photo by Macy Pate 111 1 > U '..\ llF.H\III P
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc5NA==