17 Stampede Harding University welcomed incoming students with the annual freshmen orientation, otherwise known as Stampede. For the 202425 school year, Stampede received an upgrade and offered more activities and information sessions to help benefit students. “When you have new people every year coming in and taking over, there’s a lot of reinventing the wheel that can happen,” Director of Student Life Jane Chandler said. This was Chandler’s first year to direct Stampede. She brought together a group of students to help her with the workload. Chandler intentionally chose students who represented different communities at Harding. “There’s no way to truly represent the entire student body,” Chandler said. “But it felt like a really good sample group.” Five students were chosen as first-year guides to assist incoming students. These students played a crucial role in Stampede but realized that the experience was different from the years that they attended. “It was way more organized than it was when I went through Stampede [in 2022],” junior Tamson Smith-Gardner said. “There was more free time, which I liked because it gave all the freshmen more downtime.” As a first-year guide, one of SmithGardner’s priorities was intentionally including the more introverted incoming students. “I tried really hard to reach out to those who maybe weren’t as extroverted,” SmithGardner said. “[I tried] to encourage the introverts to just do one thing because going to one Stampede event could lead to meeting your whole entire freshman friend group.” To aid the directive of fostering friendships and involving freshmen, the student leaders planned more events. The freshman class responded well to these events, one of which was a silent disco. “The silent disco was great because nobody was scared to talk to anyone,” SmithGardner said. “You just had to switch your headphones to the same color and just vibe.” After attending three days’ worth of events, the freshmen felt properly welcomed and found their spots in the Harding community. “I absolutely participated in the events,” freshman Chase Watterson said. “It was super fun because everybody bought into it . . . but that’s just part of the culture here at Harding.” The student leaders hoped to carry the energy of the previous centennial year into the next one hundred years of Harding’s history. Written by Aubrey Hudkins WELCOME HOME Stampede first-year guides present in front of the upcoming students on Aug. 15 in the Benson Auditorium. Photo by Abigail Callicoat MINIONS On Aug. 16, students pose for a group photo. The students are dressed up for a themed dinner during Stampede. Photo by Abigail Callicoat FRONT LAWN FUN On Aug. 16, students play cornhole on the front lawn during Stampede. Games and booths were set up for the freshman to explore. Photo by Abigail Callicoat
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc5NA==