43 PROGRAM CANCELLATIONS HARDING UNIVERSITY IN SEARCY nternational Programs face cancellations in fall 2020. For students planning to participate in fall 2020 International Programs, the semester was altered even more drastically than anticipated. “We did our best to defer programs as much as we could rather than just cancel them,” Executive Director of International Programs Audra Pleasant said. Plesant said the International Programs team was committed to make a decision for the spring 2021 programs on Oct. 21, and were hopeful that programs would be back up and running by fall 2021. Director of Harding University in Greece (HUG) Daniel Adams spent the fall 2020 semester on Harding’s main campus teaching art classes and getting to know more of his HUG students. “We’ve spent quite a bit of time on social media with all of our past groups from this past year,” Adams said. “Having been here in the States, we’ve been able to meet with past groups and future groups and visit with them face to face rather than just waiting for them to show up.” To keep busy through the fall semester, the HUG staff met and created projects to keep the housing at HUG, the Artemis, spotless for the next round of students, Adams said. Adams and his wife traveled back to Greece in November 2020 to help their staff prepare for the next round of students and receive their permanent resident ID cards. Sophomore Kayla Cesone, a nursing student passionate about healthcare missions, planned to attend Harding University in Zambia (HIZ). “HIZ getting canceled pushed me to actively look for opportunities to do [healthcare missions] here,” Cesone said. Having planned to go since her junior year of high school, Cesone said the change of plans warped the idea of her Harding experience, but she realized God was working for the better. “He was definitely working on me and let go of my plans and what I thought my life was going to look like,” Cesone said. “He definitely brought a lot of goodness in just being here in Searcy.” story by Selby Bailey Yates The International Programs office stands attached to the Honor’s House. Plans were made to send students abroad in future semesters. | photo by Madison Meyer
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