Written by Caitlin Caldwell
With springtime in full swing, royalty is becoming more and more evident on Harding’s campus.
The season for new club beaux and queens is here, and the excitement and history behind the process is in focus.
To be a queen or a beau for a club, the club has to vote in the prospective queen or beau, and after that, the new representative is expected to be involved with the club in many different aspects.
Being queened or beauxed for social clubs at Harding has been going on for a long time. Every club has a slightly different tradition, but there seems to always be some common threads throughout.
“I was a busy Kojie Beaux,” said Dan Caldwell, a beau for Ko Jo Kai in 1975. “It was one of the happiest things to get to wear that Kojie jersey every Friday.” Caldwell said he remembers being taken out for pizza the night he was honored as a beau.
Though some tradtions die off, others have held up.”I almost started crying when I got dunked in the fountain. It was so cold,” said Tori McPherson, who was honored as a Titans queen in 2009. “But it was completely worth it for the year I got to spend with Titans after that. I had so much fun helping out with their Club Week and getting to know all the boys.”
One of the traditions that has remained is wearing the other clubs jersey on the days that the club does.
“Not only do you feel important when you wear your club’s jersey that you’re a queen for, but it reminds you that you are representing their club now, and it is such an honor,” McPherson said.
For others like Chad Marshall, getting beaued can be quite a surprise.”I literally had no idea I was getting beaued because I didn’t really know any of the girls in Ko Jo Kai,” Marshall, a former Kojie beau recalls. “At first I was afraid that it would be awkward, but it turned out to be a really great experience.”
Marshall said he remembers being active in Ko Jo Kai’s Club Week along with his own social clubs, Titans.”I had to balance that week out, but I loved getting to see how the girl’s Club Week was and it gave me an opportunity to get to know the girls and fellow beaux better.”For more information on social club’s at Harding, visitHarding University Social Clubs.
