130 Harding had a special way to welcome first-year students to campus for the school year. Stampede was a multi-day event that took place every fall leading up to the beginning of classes that offered activities and projects to help freshmen and transfer students find their footing at Harding and spread the love of Christ. The 2022–23 Stampede theme was “Ignite,” with a theme verse of 2 Timothy 1:6–7. Stampede was led by two student co-directors, junior Tiane Davis and senior Matthew Crowson. The directors began working before the previous school year ended. “We were required to work 35 hours each week the whole summer, and sometimes we stayed extra,” Davis said. “Both of us were required to live in Searcy and work pretty much full-time to prepare. When I accepted the job, I had no idea how much work would go into it, and I now have so much respect for Stampede co-directors considering how much work it was for us.” One of the most important jobs of the directors was assembling a team to help them pull off the event. A group of returning students was nominated and then selected to help in various ways. Senior Eryn Hayner was on the executive committee for planning Stampede. “My committee[’s job] was to train the energy group leaders, so I had to present a PowerPoint detailing to the energy group leaders what their job was,” Hayner said. “I was also responsible for planning a very large game of capture the flag, so that was a lot of fun.” Both directors had to juggle other things on their plate Leading the Herd Junior Tiane Davis co-directs Stampede with senior Matthew Crowson. at the same time as pulling off Stampede. Crowson got married less than a month before Stampede started. He enjoyed the extra help and support that his wife provided while he was working. “Throughout Stampede I was extremely busy, working sometimes from 7 a.m. all the way to 11 p.m.,” Crowson said. “It made things so much easier to have someone by my side the whole time. Molly, my wife, even came to some of the events and helped us out. She was my number one supporter throughout the week.” Davis faced a different challenge. She was preparing to embark on an overseas journey with the Harding University England study abroad program. She left for Iceland, the first stop of the program, on Aug. 22, 2022, the day after Stampede ended. Getting ready to leave the country for a semester immediately after overseeing such a big event took intentional effort. “I found out what day my flight was leaving pretty far in advance, so I just had to make sure I didn’t put anything off until the last minute,” Davis said. “I had to start packing a couple of weeks before, just so I could devote all my time to Stampede. It was very stressful, especially having to move into a different apartment in the middle of Stampede week and then having to make sure I was packed.” Crowson and Davis led first-year students at Stampede from Aug. 18 to Aug. 21, 2022. Written by: Ethan Conn
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc5NA==