Who has not heard the old saying that the people you meet in college will be your best friends through life? For many students, the college years provide once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to grow, learn, travel and make strong and memorable friendships with people from all over the world. Many who have been involved in social clubs say the closest of these bonds were formed with others who they got to know through their social club experience. Yet after graduation, most students inevitably move away from Searcy and find themselves living far away from their old college friends.
Several club reunions will take place this Saturday morning to provide alumni the chance to return to campus and reunite with old friends and club brothers and sisters. Reunions will be held for Sub T-16, Knights, TNT and Zeta Rho, Chi Kappa Rho, and GATA.
Tim Cox, a sponsor for Knights and 1994 graduate, said he looks forward to the Knights’ 45th year reunion, which will begin with a current versus former student softball game at 10:45 a.m. on the softball field. Cox, who helped organize and promote the reunion to past members, said he is excited he gets to be part of it.
“I most anticipate seeing old friends and watching the new members exchange stories with the past members,” Cox said. “It is a great time to get together and let the newer guys hear stories of the old days and see how the bonds that are made now can stay with you for a lifetime. Knights had a 40th reunion and it was a great time. We had people visiting us that had not been back to Harding since graduating and Knights was the reason they were coming back. This is true again for this reunion.”
After the Knights’ softball game, some of the attendees will participate in a current versus past members joust, which will be followed by a cookout.
Assistant Vice President of Advancement Steve Lake, who is also a Sub T-16 sponsor known by members as “Admiral,” said the club’s reunion will begin at 7:30 a.m. in the Heritage Regions Room with its traditional Homecoming reunion breakfast.
“We eat, visit and will have a few older alumni members speak about their time in Sub-T and what it means to them,” Lake said.
Lake said there might also be two alumni at the reunion who are more than 90 years old.
“I enjoy watching the young and old greeting one another with the traditional Sub-T handshake and seeing these guys light up and smile, knowing that they are a part of something very special that is very much a part of the fabric of Harding,” Lake said.
Additional reunions will be held for a number of others as well, including former Student Association presidents and officers, former football players and cheerleaders, Student Publications alumni and African-American Alumni for Harding University, to name a few. A complete schedule of the weekend can be found on page 4C and at https://www.harding.edu/homecoming/schedule.html.
