A new semester includes changes for everyone: new classes, with new teachers and hopefully new friends. For freshman Natalie Jadon, these changes also included a new language and a new country. After a series of plane rides that clocked in at 14 hours, Jadon arrived to begin her semester in Searcy, Arkansas from her hometown of Nazareth.
Jadon said she first heard about Harding when Dr. Mike James, director of Harding University in Greece, brought students to the church where her father preaches, which she says is the only Church of Christ in the Middle East.
“Natalie’s parents, Maurice and Ina’am, have been our friends since I became the HUG director four years ago,” James said. “I view most high school students as candidates for Harding. After getting to know Natalie, I saw her outgoing personality, loving spirit and heart for God, and she became an HU ‘target’ for me.”
Jadon is majoring in sports medicine, which she said was a major component in her decision to attend Harding. In order to pursue this career back home, she would have to attend medical school and then specialize in medical assistance for athletes.
“From the beginning I wanted something in sports medicine,” Jadon said. “I came here because they didn’t have a major back home that connected sports and medicine.”
Jadon herself is an athlete and is now a member of the Harding tennis team. She played tennis in Nazareth for 14 years.
“I’ve known about Natalie’s keen interest in tennis, and her family has told me of her prowess, but I’ve never seen her play,” James said. “I hope that her abilities can help her and the tennis team.”
Jadon said she has faced numerous cultural differences here in the U.S. Although she had visited the states many times with her parents in the past, she said she has still had to adapt to “the food, the traditions and the body language.” However, Jadon said that not all of these changes were necessarily bad ones.
“The food is my number one favorite thing,” Jadon said. “Also, everything is cheaper here compared to what we have.”
Jadon said that she was specifically impressed by the Harding campus, due to the Christian values found here and the intent focus on God.
“Because it is a Christian college, you guys have so much more respect for God,” Jadon said. “Everyone here is so kind and nice.”
Jadon said that people are often fascinated by her heritage, although it tends to draw a lot of unexpected attention to herself.
“Everyone thinks it’s so cool that I am from Nazareth like Jesus, so people don’t call me by my name, they call me ‘girl from Nazareth,” Jadon said. “The weirdest thing was when the president showed my picture in chapel. People will recognize me ever since.”
Her classes have also differed drastically from what she was used to in Nazareth.
“It’s a lot different,” Jadon said. “Math is really easy here, because ours is really tough. Bible is hard because it is in English. I know the Bible in Arabic, but not in English.”
Jadon said that she is currently enrolled in ESL classes to improve her English, but she already feels comfortable with the language and does not think she will need the classes for much longer. She said plans to finish all four years of college here at Harding.
Meanwhile, the new HUG group will return to Natalie’s home congregation while they study abroad this semester.
“Next Sunday(Feb. 9), Lord willing, we will attend services in Nazareth,” James said. “We attend there because they are faithful brothers and sisters in a very difficult area. They are facing trouble on all sides–politically, religiously, socially and financially. But with every visit, they treat us royally.”
